China’s mobile payment platform WeChat Pay will work in Italy for the first time, the company announced on Monday.
WeChat Pay is the payment arm of WeChat, the instant-messaging app operated by Tencent.
Tencent made a deal with Docomo Digital, a digital payment solutions provider. Then it made the announcement. It is the latest action by WeChat Pay in its competition with its largest rival, China’s Alipay, for the growing market created by Chinese tourists visiting Europe.
In Italy, the payment technology will be enabled by Docomo Digital. Chinese travelers will be able to make a payment through the WeChat app on their phone, by scanning the bar code on the payment terminal hosted by retailers.
WeChat has 980 million active users per month. In 2017, WeChat Pay was used by Chinese consumers at an average rate of 1 million deals per minute.
Monday’s announcement means Italian brands can sign up to accept payments through WeChat Pay. So far, none of them installed a payment terminal, meaning Chinese shoppers will still need to wait a while before such payments will be accepted. WeChat Pay started looking for opportunities across Europe in 2015 by opening an office in Italy, although actual payment only started in 2017, first in the United Kingdom and France.
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