Since 1 January 2018, merchants at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, working with SIX Payment Services and Bovertis B.V., will be able to offer a special service to the hundreds of thousands Chinese passengers travellers who visit Schiphol every year: customers will be able to pay in stores with Alipay. SIX Payment Services has incorporated this popular means of mobile payment from China into its acceptance portfolio for merchants throughout Europe. 

SIX Payment Services was one of the first payment service providers in Europe to enter into a collaborative arrangement with the Chinese payment platform Alipay, the world’s largest online and mobile payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group and with over 520 million active users in China. Alipay has been integrated into the acceptance portfolio of SIX and into the relevant applications alongside all common credit and debit cards, enabling merchants of SIX to accept mobile payments from Alipay users.

Since 1 January 2018, Chinese customers will be able to pay with Alipay in shops at Schiphol airport.  This implementation further enhances the Chinese passenger journey within Schiphol airport in combination with a Chinese language airport website, wifi language optimization and Weibo presence on the China digital media space. Schiphol Airport is actively ensuring a convenient and inclusive customer experience for Chinese passengers.

SIX, in conjunction with Bovertis B.V., is responsible for equipping the shops at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands, Europe’s third-largest airport, for Alipay acceptance. SIX and Bovertis B.V. are providing the very busy outlets at the airport with a cash register-integrated solution for Alipay acceptance. This enables merchants at Schiphol airport to meet the requirements of this steadily growing and affluent target group by offering their customary means of payments.

Tanja Dik, Director Consumer Products & Services at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol: “We are delighted that we can now make Alipay available to our Chinese customers in our See Buy Fly Shopping Centre. It is really important for us that all passengers have a great customer experience at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. That includes having a straightforward check-out process and being able to pay in our shops by using a familiar mobile payment method.”

René Balvert, Founder and Chief Software Architect at Bovertis B.V.: “With more and more payment methods entering the market it is sometimes hard to advice customers which trend to follow. In the case of Alipay there was no doubt.  Both Alipay’s huge client base and her superior technology make it a must-have at international facilities like airports. Bovertis is always eager to support her customers with new technology and working with SIX and Alipay to get this done in record time was a real pleasure.”

Roger Niederer, Head Merchant Services SIX Payment Services: “Alipay has over 520 million Chinese customers, of whom more than 10 million visited Europe in 2016. We at SIX want to provide our merchants with the simplest, fastest and most reliable check-out process. It is therefore a logical consequence for SIX to include Alipay in our acceptance portfolio and to make available to Chinese tourists their favourite, trusted payment solution, regardless of where they are.”