GERMANY. Wirecard, the international technology company, is expanding its collaboration with Münich Airport’s retail subsidiary Eurotrade to offer the WeChat Pay platform. Eurotrade will become the first company in Germany to accept WeChat Pay.
Eurotrade operates some 70 shops at Münich Airport, and enjoys very strong and increasing business with Chinese travellers. Over 2 million Chinese tourists visited Germany last year.
Eurotrade integrated Alipay into its till systems in July 2016.
“It was pretty easy to make the decision to also offer WeChat Pay as a new payment method because of the excellent results we’ve seen with Alipay. In addition, Chinese visitors plan their trips to Europe, including shopping lists, far in advance.” – Eurotrade Managing Director Sven Zahn
WeChat Pay has over 600 million active users per month. It is part of the Chinese company Tencent, which ranks among the top five internet companies worldwide. WeChat Pay has a market share of almost 40% in terms of payment volume and around 53% for mobile payment transactions in China.
In the first three months after the launch of Alipay, the average amount spent by Chinese tourists in Eurotrade stores increased by +92% year-on-year.
In the first three months after the launch of Alipay, the average amount spent by Chinese tourists in Eurotrade stores increased by +92% year-on-year. Since that point, visitors from China have spent around +280% more than average consumers in the airport’s duty free shops, according to Eurotrade.
“Following Alipay, the adoption of WeChat Pay highlights our commitment to offering a holistic payment service for international visitors in general and for Chinese visitors more specifically” – Eurotrade Managing Director Sven Zahn
Eurotrade Managing Director Sven Zahn said: “It was pretty easy to make the decision to also offer WeChat Pay as a new payment method because of the excellent results we’ve seen with Alipay. In addition, Chinese visitors plan their trips to Europe, including shopping lists, far in advance.
“This is why it is important for us to also use the marketing platforms that mobile payment apps offer us. Following Alipay, the adoption of WeChat Pay highlights our commitment to offering a holistic payment service for international visitors in general and for Chinese visitors more specifically.”
Wirecard Executive Vice President Sales Consumer Goods Christian Reindl said: “As the first WeChat Pay partner for POS acceptance in Europe, we are proud to be expanding our collaboration with Eurotrade. Thanks to our flexible payment platform, we have been able to achieve this quickly and easily.”
Chinese visitors who want to make mobile cashless payments with WeChat Pay need to follow three simple steps. The user opens the WeChat or Weixin app and selects the item from the wallet feature. This creates a QR code. The retailer scans this code to initiate the payment process. Meanwhile, Wirecard assumes payment acceptance and handles all processing.
Footnote: Wirecard is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. It offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments.
Eurotrade operates some 70 retail stores at Münich Airport, embracing 13,586sq m of shopping space, plus one duty free shop in Friedrichshafen.
