Alipay launches its mobile payment gateway at Changi Airport

Alipay and Changi Airport Group (CAG) today announced the signing of a strategic five-year partnership agreement, to roll out the Alipay mobile payment option in Changi Airport on a wide scale. A joint marketing agreement was also inked, for both parties to offer customised and targeted shopping and dining offers to Chinese passengers using Alipay.

Alipay, operated by Ant Financial Services Group, is the world’s leading online and mobile payment platform with over 520 million active users. Alipay is the first Chinese mobile payment partner for Changi Airport. Changi Airport’s yearly concession sales grew 5% to hit another new high at S$2.3 billion in 2016, with travellers from China accounting for a third of all retail sales last year as one of the top spenders at the airport. This new mobile payment option will allow travellers to enjoy yet another convenient payment mode when shopping and dining at various commercial offerings at Changi Airport – including the Cosmetics & Perfumes and Wines and Spirits duty free shops.

The Alipay mobile payment service has been progressively offered as a new payment mode by Changi Airport’s tenants since May 2017, and is now available at more than 78 shopping and dining outlets at Changi Airport.

Value-added experiences for Alipay users

Under the joint marketing agreement, Alipay and CAG will collaborate to create passenger-centric content, providing information on ongoing promotions, as well as location-based information about shopping and dining options at the airport.

In addition, Alipay is also partnering CAG in the eighth season of the "Be a Changi Millionaire" anchor shopping promotion, providing publicity outreach for the event with their extensive marketing network in China. Shoppers who use Alipay as a payment mode when making their purchases will double their chances of winning the S$1 million cash prize or an all-new Volvo S90 luxury sedan.

Ms Teo Chew Hoon, CAG’s Senior Vice President for airside concessions said, “Changi Airport provides a myriad of customised services for our Chinese travellers – including our mandarin-speaking shopping concierge services and Chinese version of the airport’s online shopping portal, iShopChangi. The Alipay mobile platform provides a brand new payment option to further enhance our Chinese travellers’ shopping experience here at Changi, while also providing personalised information and offers for their enjoyment. Looking ahead, we will continue to work with our partners to explore other ways to provide an exceptional Changi Experience for our passengers.”

Douglas Feagin, head of Alipay International said, “We are so happy to be working with Changi Airport and its various merchants, connecting them with Chinese travellers and helping them better target their Chinese customers via big-data-based marketing capabilities. Users at different locations and with different user profiles will receive targeted marketing content.”

Alipay will also be made available as a mode of payment at Changi Airport Terminal 4 when it begins operations from 31 October 2017.