Alipay, Pi Pay Make a New Partnership
Wheresoe’er in this great wide world that a Chinese tourist may want to go, it seems, Alipay won’t be far behind. New word from the mobile payments titan says that that sentiment, overblown as it may be, is now truer than ever as Alipay recently set up a partnership arrangement with Pi Pay, one of the biggest names in mobile payments in Cambodia.
Under the terms of the partnership, those who are part of Pi Pay’s merchant network will be able to immediately offer Alipay as a payment option as well. This opens up the potential floodgates of Chinese tourists who may well make Cambodia a destination. Given that Pi Pay’s network includes over 1,400 businesses total, including dining, fashion, spas and other tourist-friendly locations, it’s not so out of line that Pi Pay locations would be of interest to Chinese tourists.
Alipay’s general manager of cross-border business between South and Southeast Asia, Cherry Huang, noted “With Cambodia being a popular destination among Chinese travelers, we are excited to work with Pi Pay as our acquiring partner to benefit our users and at the same time, to provide an effective platform for local businesses in Cambodia to reach Chinese consumers.”
Given that almost a million tourists so far have hit Cambodia from China for just the first 10 months of this year, it’s easy to see why Alipay would want to have a presence there. Further given that Pi Pay has over 168,000 downloads accounting for $27 million US spent so far, it’s easy to see why it would be the preferred access point for Alipay to get in on the Cambodian market.
The move itself isn’t anything new, really; Alipay’s been engaging in this kind of behavior for most of 2018 so far, pushing into pretty much any area a Chinese tourist might buy a ticket for. Partnering up with one of the biggest names in the region, meanwhile, is just smart business; the infrastructure is already in place, so why not take advantage of it?
Alipay’s push into other markets will likely carry on for some time now, and the Cambodian move is just the latest example of that. Where Alipay will go next is anyone’s guess, but the answer “nowhere” is likely to be the only truly wrong answer there is.