Walgreens Adds Alipay Payment Option
Meanwhile, Kroger introduces Kroger Pay and a Kroger Rewards debit card.
Feb 15, 2019
NEW YORK CITY – This week, Alipay, a digital payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group, and Walgreens announced a collaboration that will bring Alipay’s mobile payment platform to thousands of Walgreens locations throughout the United States.
“Walgreens is focused on making shopping more convenient for our customers. This collaboration has particular significance for our Chinese customer population, who now has a new way to experience Walgreens,” said Richard Ashworth, Walgreens president of operations, in a press release. “Not only can they buy our products via our dedicated store on Alibaba’s Tmall Global marketplace, but they will now also be able to shop in the U.S. using Alipay as they would in China. We look forward to the ongoing evolution of our partnership with Alibaba Group.”
Together with its global joint venture partners, Alipay serves 1 billion users worldwide. According to a January 2019 Nielsen report, “more than two-thirds of Chinese tourists said they used their smartphones to pay abroad in 2018. Nearly 60% of surveyed merchants saw growth in both foot traffic and revenue, after adopting Alipay.” Alipay is currently available at 3,000 Walgreens stores including cities where Alipay users travel the most such as New York City, San Francisco and Las Vegas. By April, Alipay’s availability will expand to more than 7,000 U.S. Walgreens locations.
Also, the Kroger Co. has launched Kroger Pay, a mobile payment solution that securely combines a customer's payment and loyalty card information to create a faster checkout experience. The company is also introducing a new Kroger Rewards debit card, a rewarding payment option for customers.
“Kroger is redefining the customer experience by creating innovative ways to pay at our stores and online," said Gary Millerchip, CEO of Kroger Personal Finance and corporate strategy integration lead, in a press release. “Kroger Pay and the Kroger Rewards debit card are two more ways we are transforming our payments model to benefit our customers.”
Kroger Pay recently launched in the retailer’s Columbus division, and will roll out to 10 additional markets in the spring, with plans to go nationwide later this year.
