Value Retail villages add Alipay to boost Chinese sales

Financial services provider Wirecard has implemented Alipay for Value Retail, the company behind a number of international luxury outlet centres including Bicester Village in the UK and La Vallée Village in France.

Alipay was first launched at the Visitor Centre in Bicester Village near London, and will be extended across nine Value Retail shopping destinations in Europe via Wirecard’s Scan Alipay app.

As China’s leading third-party online payment solution, the introduction of Alipay at shopping centres will help retailers offer their Chinese consumers a familiar payment method.

A test run revealed that offering Alipay as a new payment method via the ready-to-use Scan Alipay app led to a 40% increase in transactions made by Chinese tourists over three months. On average, each transaction amounted to 270 euros, according to Wirecard.

Pam Bingley, Chief Information Officer at Value Retail, said: "Alipay will give our guests from China greater choice, creating more convenient ways of paying."

Christian Reindl, Executive Vice President Sales Consumer Goods at Wirecard, added: "We are delighted to announce our new partnership with Value Retail and look forward to expanding upon our collaboration by integrating Alipay into more of the Collection of Villages."

To pay via Alipay, customers will have to scan their Alipay QR code on their smartphone at the till. Wirecard will take over payment acceptance and the transaction processing.

Value Retail is the owner of 11 luxury outlets in Europe and China, located in cities near London, Milan, Munich, Dublin, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Suzhou and Shanghai.

The company has consistently delivered double-digit growth in gross sales every year since the opening of Bicester Village in 1995, while the villages boast some of the highest sales densities for shopping in the world.