Today, we’re announcing a partnership with Alipay, Asia’s leading digital wallet platform, unlocking the power of cross-border commerce for Shopify’s merchants. The new payment gateway will allow Shopify merchants to seamlessly accept payments through Alipay from more than one billion annual active users in China alone — and, in the future, hundreds of millions more across Asia.
In the past, Shopify merchants have been able to offer Alipay as a payment method through third-party providers. Now, through the Alipay payment gateway, Shopify merchants will reduce friction for consumers looking to make purchases with their preferred payment method, creating even greater opportunity to tap into some of the world’s largest shopping seasons and holidays such as the upcoming Lunar New Year in February and, most notably, the 11.11 Global Festival, popularly known as Singles Day or Double 11.
Each year in November, Singles Day draws hundreds of millions of shoppers. According to Alibaba, this year’s event generated gross merchandise volume (GMV) of $74 billion over the course of the 11-day campaign. U.S-based businesses earned more than $5.4 billion in sales from Chinese consumers, making the U.S. the top international market during the festival.
Source: Shopify