Wal-Mart, Alibaba partner on mobile payment in China

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is partnering with the Alipay payment services subsidiary of Alibaba Holding Group to offer a new mobile payment option in some Chinese Wal-Mart locations. Customers at 25 Wal-Mart stores in the Chinese city of Shenzhen in southern China are now able to use the Alipay mobile wallet to pay for purchases.



The stores are equipped with special scanners that will allow them to read a barcode the Alipay app will produce after automatically calculating final purchase price and accept payment almost instantly. All Wal-Mart stores in China are expected to accept mobile payment in the future.



Wal-Mart currently operates more than 410 stores in China and has identified China as a major growth target. However, Wal-Mart’s customer base in China declined by almost 6% in 2014, compared to the previous year.