Alipay Joins Hands With Japanese Retailer On Trans-border Retailing

Alipay, one of the largest independent third-party payment service providers in China, has formally reached an agreement with Marui Company, one of the oldest department stores in Japan.

Under their agreement, maruione.jp/cn/, the Chinese website of Marui, enters the Chinese market via the overseas settlement service of Alipay.

It is learned that Alipay users can now directly auction Japanese goods from this website and Alipay will help them convert Chinese currency into Japanese yen based on the current foreign exchange rate.

Marui has also offered a range of preferential services for Alipay users to attract more Chinese consumers. From June 15 to June 30, 2009, it will pay the goods delivery fee for Alipay users who shop on its website. In addition, it will offer them a coupon with a face value of JPY1,000.

Alipay says it appreciates Softbank Payment Service Corp very much for bringing Alipay services to maruione.jp/cn/. It is said that in November 2008, Alipay signed with SBPS and according to their agreement, SBPS will promote Alipay's overseas settlement service among Japanese enterprises so these enterprises can use the trans-border payment service of Alipay without having to integrate the latter's interface and make their goods directly available to Chinese consumers.

Established in 1937, Marui currently owns 22 chain department stores with an annual sales revenue of JPY493.5 billion. Marui's goods are said to be very popular with young people.

As at May 10, 2009, Alipay had had a total 180 million users, of which 80% are young people between 20 and 35 years old, which is identical to Marui's positioning of target buyers.