European acquirer, Viva.com, has expanded its strategic partnership with global mobile payment solution provider Alipay+, to enable European merchants to accept direct payments from 15 e-wallets. Through the new partnership, the firms aim to enhance the tourism experience for global tourists, mostly from Asia, when visiting Europe.
Following the integration with Viva.com, tourists can use their preferred home e-wallets from over 15 e-wallets and banking partners in businesses across Europe, while also benefitting from accessing merchant promotions via Alipay+.
Viva.com now offers merchants in various business verticals, including travel agencies, retail stores, hotels, restaurants, taxicabs, and more, access to over 40 payment methods, including Alipay+. Its ‘Tap on Any Device’ technology enables any device to double as a contactless payment terminal, also accepting chip and PIN, as well as QR code payments.
Viva explained that this technology supports different checkout journeys, and elevates customer service, by enabling transactions to take place anywhere, eliminating queues and long waiting times.
Pietro Candela, general manager of Europe at Alipay+, commented: “The partnership between Alipay+ and Viva.com represents a significant step in the path towards expanding our offerings for global travellers coming to Europe.
“International tourism has finally recovered following the pandemic, and thanks to Alipay+’s partnership with Viva.com, merchants from 24 European countries will enjoy new benefits by attracting international customers with a convenient and familiar payment method. This announcement is right on time to welcome the Asian visitors for the peak season of the Golden Week in October.”
Alipay+ integration with the Viva in-person payments platform is already live in all 24 European markets Viva operates. All existing merchants which currently accept Alipay are automatically eligible for Alipay+, with a growing number of merchants onboarded daily.
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Alipay+ supports its partners and merchants to serve 1.5 billion users worldwide and is enabled in 66 markets globally, connecting over 90 million merchants.
Harry Xenophontos, chief partnerships officer, leading the strategic business development division at Viva.com, commented: “By extending our partnership with Ant International to integrate with Alipay+ cross-border mobile payment solution, we aim to further streamline payments for European businesses.
“With Alipay+, we enable merchants to accept multiple digital payment methods from international consumers, including millions of Asian travellers, in the most frictionless way, with a single integration and QR code scheme.”
Among the 15 Alipay+ e-wallets and mobile partners accepted at over 400,000 merchants in Europe are: MPay (Macao SAR, China), Hipay (Mongolia), GCash (The Philippines), OCBC Digital and Changi Pay (Singapore), TrueMoney (Thailand), Tinaba (Italy), as well as Kakao Pay, Naver Pay and Toss Pay (South Korea).