Alipay Comes To Canada

SnapPay, the Canadian cross-border payments company, and Alipay, the Chinese digital payments platform operated by Ant Financial Services, announced a collaboration Wednesday (March 6) that will enable Canadian Chinese grocery chain FoodyMart to accept Alipay.

In a press release, the companies said consumers will be able to pay in Chinese currency at all locations including the Alipay Experience store, which is newly designed and located in Richmond, BC. SnapPay is a payment gateway that enables merchants in North America to accept digital payments from Chinese consumers using Chinese payment applications. By offering Alipay, SnapPay can offer its services to a new customer segment, the companies said in the press release.

“Our platform provides Canadian and U.S. retailers with an extensive new revenue channel,” said SnapPay Chief Growth Officer Chris Renton. “North American retailers gain access to billions of untapped potential revenue by simply offering their customers the option to pay with the mobile apps and currency that they’re familiar with.”

Customers visiting FoodyMart will be able to pay in Chinese currency using a QR scan from their mobile app. Merchants get paid in Canadian or U.S. dollars. The SnapPay service for merchants also provides them with the opportunity to directly market to Chinese consumers, noted the companies in the press release. “Since deploying SnapPay last year, we’re seeing triple-digit growth in our sales,” FoodyMart President Yiwei Cheng said in the statement. “Integration with our POS was a fast, easy process. In addition, the solution enables us to directly market to our customers through their mobile apps, which provides us with a brand-new channel to drive sales and customer loyalty.”

Alipay has been expanding its footprint in North America, recently inking deals to bring the payment method to more merchants. In February it announced its mobile payment method will be available at thousands of Walgreens locations throughout the U.S.