Q&A: Yana Geng, Head of UK & Ireland, Alipay

Yana Geng chats to RTIH about the rise of Alipay on these shores, the Chinese venture’s partnership with Holland & Barrett and what lies ahead.

RTIH: Tell us about yourself.

YG: I am the head of the UK and Ireland for Alipay, where I have been for the past four and a half years. I am passionate about the payments industry, innovation and bringing the benefits of Alipay to consumers around the world. 

Building an ecosystem with various types of partners and working with retailers to adopt the service and seeing the benefits, first hand, of the positive impact this has on UK and Irish retailers has been a career highlight for me. In my spare time, I enjoy travelling and exploring the world. Also cooking makes me feel relaxed and inspired.

RTIH: Alibaba has been rapidly expanding outside of China, especially the UK and EU. What have been some of the highlights thus far?

YG: Watching the expansion of Alipay in the UK and EU over the past few years has been tremendous. Where a few years ago it was only accepted in a handful of places, we have seen large retail chains such as Holland & Barrett and small independent boutique shops approach us wanting to accept Alipay to increase their exposure with Chinese tourists. 

Some of the highlights include the Bicester Village partnership, which saw almost every retailer within the village accept Alipay, another would certainly be the rise of adoption in the run-up to the Golden Week period last year by restaurants and independent businesses. 

It is inspiring to see how technology can increase the success of these smaller retailers. Besides, we have seen more and more partners joining us to help their clients expand business to Chinese consumers, from startups to big cooperates like Barclaycard. 

RTIH: What have been the key challenges and issues when expanding in the UK and Europe?

YG: As with any business expanding in a new market, we initially saw a lack of brand awareness and understanding of how beneficial Alipay can be for businesses across Europe – as is to be expected for an initially unknown brand. We have worked diligently at educating and marketing our product to retailers and have seen a huge uptake of the Alipay payments system across both the UK and wider Europe. 

As market penetration continues, awareness increases and uptake among retailers has continued. Encouragingly, this growth has coincided with an increase in overseas Chinese tourists to the UK and Europe, and the correlation between retailers accepting Alipay and increases in their foot traffic. 

The UK expects Chinese visitor numbers to be up by 43% and for them to spend a predicted £1 billion, an increase of 50% on the year before. This is just another reason retailers should be looking to adopt Alipay to cater for the payments preference of these users.

RTIH: Could you discuss the positive impact that adopting Alipay can have for retail shops, with a specific focus on the pharmacy, health and whole food purchasing habits of Chinese tourists and overseas students.

YG: Adoption of the system has many positive impacts for both retailers and Chinese tourists. The geo-marketing features of Alipay enable retailers to target users who are near their shop with featured products, ongoing activities, promotion or coupons and other marketing information. The ability for users to look at which shops accept Alipay has a positive impact on foot traffic and increased revenue by Chinese tourists. 

“Where a few years ago it was only accepted in a handful of places, we have seen large retail chains such as Holland & Barrett and small independent boutique shops approach us wanting to accept Alipay to increase their exposure with Chinese tourists”

The pharmacy, health and whole food sectors are particularly important to Chinese tourists as they enjoy purchasing natural health remedies and western-branded products to bring back to China. Retailers in the UK and Germany that have onboarded the Alipay payments system have noticed measurable increases in spend per purchase. 

The increase in footfall at stores which accept Alipay aligns with a recent Nielsen report which revealed that 91% of Chinese tourists travelling abroad would likely spend more if merchants accepted Chinese mobile payments tools. 

RTIH: Tell us about the aforementioned Holland & Barrett partnership.

YG: In March of this year Alipay, along with the integrated payments and marketing platform, RiverPay and Ronghan Intl, partnered with Holland & Barrett that has seen Alipay been made available in 1,600 stores around the world. This partnership was an important step for us as there is a significant amount of demand by Chinese tourists and students to purchase natural health remedies and supplements and Holland & Barrett is one of the best known in Europe for offering these products. 

The partnership has seen Holland & Barrett automatically enrolled in Alipay’s marketing platform, which increases awareness of brands and retail locations among users. Alipay has increased the awareness of Holland & Barrett to millions of users and the success of this partnership is a prime example of the benefits that accepting it can bring to a business.

RTIH: What else can we expect from Alipay in the UK during 2019 and into 2020?

YG: We have many different growth opportunities and partnerships in the upcoming year. While I cannot reveal any partnerships at present, I can highlight the exciting partnership we have with UEFA, which was announced shortly before the Nations League Final in Porto in June. 

As you well know, Euro 2020 is upcoming and we are UEFA's official global payment partner for prestigious tournaments such as Euro 2020 and 2024 as well as the UEFA Nations League finals The Euro 2020 competition will also see a UEFA mini app incorporated into the Alipay super app. 

This mini programme will serve to help grow the interest of European among Alipay users and enable payments to be purchased through the Alipay app, the first time UEFA tickets will be available for purchase outside of their website. Keep an eye out for Alipay in 2020 and I am sure you will notice our logo in more stores and at Euro 2020.