U.S.-based Wal-Mart has found a way to hopefully increase sales by tapping into China's growing e-commerce user base.
Wal-Mart has signed a deal with online payments provider Alipay, a service of Alibaba, to help consumers pay for goods in China. Wal-Mart will begin the cooperation within 25 of its outlets in Shenzhen. Based on the market response in this southern Chinese city, Wal-Mart plans to gradually expand the coverage of this new service throughout mainland China.
Alipay is a related service of Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce juggernaut. Financial terms of the deal were not released.
With the launch of this new service, consumers will be able to check out at Wal-Mart stores by showing their Alipay payment code and the cashier will scan the payment code to complete the transaction. The entire process will reportedly only take about three seconds. Compared with payment in cash, this mobile payment method is easier and more convenient for some Chinese consumers.
Wal-Mart said that mobile payment is an important link to establish O2O retail experience for consumers. More and more consumers prefer mobile payment and the cooperation between Wal-Mart and Alipay aims to meet the mobile payment demand of those consumers.
In addition, Wal-Mart will be able to access Alipay's various functions such as member management, big data exploration, and service windows, which will help the retailer optimize its existing operating strategy and improve overall efficiency.