Alipay Expands to iFresh Grocery Locations

Happy Year of the Dog to those who celebrate it; back on Friday, the Chinese New Year celebrations began in earnest, and with it, a new bit of news landed from Ant Financial, who filled us in on yet another advance for Alipay. Now, Alipay is accepted at iFresh grocery locations, both the brick-and-mortar versions and online, which will allow the growing Chinese tourist class access to some tastes of home no matter where they go.

For those not familiar, iFresh is a supermarket chain with an online component that focuses on Asian fare. Locations can be found in New York, Boston, Maryland and Florida, and includes such offerings as fruits, fish, and beyond. It’s a full-range operation that focuses on freshness above all, and based on the sheer number of stores in its portfolio, must be delivering.

Now, those shopping with iFresh—either online or in person—can use Alipay as a payment method once the system goes live. The system depends on the intercession of CITCON, a cross-border mobile payment provider that will help establish a link between the payment system and the supermarket chain.

Alipay Americas president Souheil Badran noted “Many Chinese consumers shop at specialty grocery stores in the U.S. where they can find Asian foods and other products that may not be available at local supermarkets. By accepting Alipay at the register, iFresh will provide both in-store and online customers with the ability to pay using a familiar payment method, diminishing any language or payment barriers they may have otherwise faced.”

It’s actually a bit surprising that this is only being done now. It would seem like setting up a connection between Alipay and iFresh would have been something done much more immediately done. Granted, tourists likely aren’t doing a lot of grocery shopping—most people don’t cook when they’re on vacation unless they really love it or they want to save money. A Chinese mobile payment system and a Chinese grocery chain should have been a hand-in-glove fit.

Why it wasn’t done before now isn’t exactly clear, but file it under better late than never. Chinese tourists finding themselves a bit homesick will no longer have to settle for the dubious comforts of a PF Chang’s.