Finnish Retailer Stockmann to Accept Alipay
Xu Wei
DATE:  Sep 04 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Finnish Retailer Stockmann to Accept Alipay Finnish Retailer Stockmann to Accept Alipay

Stockmann plc [HEL:STCBV], the operator of Finland's biggest chain of department stores, has signed an agreement with Finnish mobile remittance firm ePassi Payments Oy to accept Ant Financial's online payment service Alipay. 

With 600,000 users, ePassi is Finland's largest mobile payment service provider and Alipay's partner in the country. The 10-year-old company has witnessed business and userbase growth after it teamed up with Alipay.

Alipay represents not only a payment method, but also an advanced shopping concept, said Anna Salmi, Stockmann's chief commercial officer. The service will first be rolled out in Stockmann's flagship store in central Helsinki. It will then be introduced to all the retailer's shops in Finland and possibly those in the Baltic states as well.

Stockmann has eight department stores in Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Chinese tourists are the second-largest group of foreign buyers at Stockmann after Russian visitors.

"With the speed that it has been growing, I think it's very meaningful for us, as Alipay is the key payment method for the Chinese tourists," said Salmi.

"Stockmann is a leading retail group in Finland," said ePassi Chief Executive Risto Virkkala. "Its introduction of Alipay is a milestone for the mobile payment service provider to market its service across the country and even Europe, and will greatly promote our partnership with Alipay."

Alipay is an e-payment platform run by Ant Financial Services Group, a company owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. [NYSE:BABA] founder Jack Ma.

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Keywords:   EPassi,Stockmann,Finland,Alipay,Ant Financial Services,Mobile Payment