DFS Group has announced that it recently teamed up with Alipay in its latest partnership to celebrate the mobile payment service’s 12.12 promotion [as a payment option] at eight of its main stores located in both Asia and North America.

 

The retailer describes this as ‘the world’s largest payment and lifestyle platform’ which is run by the Ant Financial Services Group, while the annual shopping festival itself is hosted by Alipay and attracted some 28m shoppers to participating retailers in 200 cities around the world in 2015.

 

EXCLUSIVE CUSTOMER PROMOTIONS

One of the attractions of the Alipay 12.12 initiative is the exclusive access to certain promotions and offers the company pre-agrees with its retail partners.

 

 

For example, visitors to DFS’ airport locations in Hong Kong, JFK New York, LAX and San Francisco International Airport – plus its T Gallerias in Hong Kong and Singapore (Dec 9-12) were able to participate in a number of offers.

 

10% PRICE REDUCTIONS IN SEVERAL CATEGORIES

These included 10% price reductions on selected products in beauty, fragrances, fashion, accessories, food, gifts and wines and spirits – plus coupons that could be exclusively unlocked only by Alipay users.

 

In Hong Kong, Alipay chose DFS’ T Galleria Beauty location in Causeway Bay as the launch pad for the city’s 12.12 promotion, organising a flash mob in front of the store on December 10, while also installing a real-time heat map (Dec 9-12) to show where Causeway Bay shoppers were actually utilising Alipay.

 

 

Commenting on the initiative, Philippe Schaus, DFS Group Chairman and CEO said the company was ‘thrilled’ to offer its customers this ‘truly unforgettable shopping experience’ and a more convenient way to shop at eight DFS locations worldwide. “For the Chinese shopper travelling abroad, DFS has long been the trusted source for the best international brands,” he said.

 

According to DFS, more than 110m shoppers globally participated in Alipay’s 2016 12.12 shopping festival this year.