The fashion and lifestyle company Breuninger has introduced the Chinese mobile payment solutions Alipay and WeChat Pay. This has been made possible by Wirecard, specialists in digital financial technologies. Breuninger is the first German department store to offer both leading Chinese payment solutions across all 11 of its stores.
The introduction of the Wirecard ePOS App in Breuninger’s till systems has allowed Alipay and WeChat Pay to be easily integrated in its stores, meaning that Chinese tourists can benefit from their preferred mobile payment solutions at the Point of Sale. The solution offers retailers a digital ecosystem with global payment options and a series of value added services.
With this cooperation, Breuninger is banking on Chinese tourists’ penchant for travel. In 2017, 12.4 million tourists from the Far East visited Europe on their travels. Based on an expected growth rate of 68% per year, this will rise to 20.8 million by 2022. Shopping for luxury goods such as designer handbags, shoes and clothing is hugely popular among Chinese tourists and forms an important part of their holiday enjoyment. The 11 Breuninger department stores are therefore a popular destination for Chinese tourists. By accepting Alipay and WeChat Pay, Europe’s leading department store is tapping even more effectively into this young, online-savvy, affluent target group.
Holger Blecker, CEO of Breuninger, commented: “Shopping for luxury products is an important part of European holidays for many tourists from China. Breuninger, with its select range of international designers and luxury brands, is therefore a very popular shopping destination for Asian consumers. One of our main priorities is to digitise our service portfolio. The integration of Alipay and WeChat Pay at all Breuninger stores is a logical step in the direction of further improving the shopping experience.”
Markus Braun, CEO of Wirecard AG, said: “We are delighted to have gained Breuninger as a new customer. Together we will now shape the digitisation of payment processes in the retail world. Alipay and WeChat Pay have proven to be popular entry points for companies looking to implement precisely these kind of digitisation processes over the past few years. We are excited about expanding our collaboration with Breuninger to cover additional omnichannel areas in the future.”
