Chinese tourists visiting Malaysia can now use their Alipay mobile wallet at all 242 Starbucks locations in the country.
Alipay, a mobile payment platform operated through Ant Financial Services Group, and Starbucks Malaysia are engaged in various promotions to encourage use of the mobile payment system.
“Starbucks is one of the most visited merchants by Chinese tourists in many countries," Dayong Zhang, general manager of Alipay in Southeast Asia, said in an Aug. 24 press release. "Getting a cup of familiar coffee with a familiar payment method at a random street corner in Malaysia, will make one’s journey as relaxed as at home.”
Chinese tourists can use Alipay's in-app Discovery platform to find the nearest Starbucks location.
Merchants in Malaysia started to accept Alipay in April 2017 and it’s now available at more than 5,000 merchants locations, including more than 2,100 7-Eleven stores. Restaurants, bars, supermarkets, department stores and convenience stores are the most common merchant types that accept Alipay.
Mainland China is the third largest international visitor market for Malaysia. More than 2.12 million Chinese tourists visited Malaysia in 2016 and a year-on-year increase of 8.3% was seen from the first quarter of 2017, Alipay said.
Starbucks has remained open to accepting other mobile wallets at its stores, while its own
