UnionPay International reports that KingPower Duty Free, QUNR and five branded store operations ‘subordinate to Singapore Valiram Group’ have all become members of its cross-border marketing platform.

For the uninitiated, UnionPay International (UPI) is a subsidiary of the China UnionPay organisation whose credit card business is now conducted in 160 countries and regions and claims to have the world’s largest cardholder base – including its huge clientele amongst Mainland Chinese.

Of attraction to KingPower and other duty free retailers in particular are UnionPay International’s global privilege programmes which feature ‘100 airport duty free shops’ and ’50 selected travel destinations’.

DUTY FREE DISCOUNTS AT 100 SHOPS

The company says: “About 100 duty free shops at over 70 airports offer up to a 10% discount for UnionPay cardholders. In the 50 selected travel destinations, over 300 merchants provide up to 15% discount for UnionPay cardholders.”

 

As new members, KingPower and these other retailers will also be able to interact with exclusive coupon offers from UnionPay via mobile phones, with this platform now claiming coverage in ‘about 300 stores’ across Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

There are also plans to expand into the US, Australia and Japan this year, raising this number to a forecast 1,000 participating stores.

A FAVOURITE WITH CHINESE TRAVELLERS…

UnionPay cards are very popular with many nationalities and especially Chinese who use them to book airline tickets, hotels and other services, as well as relying upon them to make the ATM cash withdrawal process a smooth and easy multilingual one while travelling.

UnionPay says that participating merchants in its new initiatives include the following: Sasa, Prince Jewellery & Watch, LUKFOOK, ISA Boutique, KingPower Duty Free and all the stores of Michael Kors, Victoria’s Secret, Kate Spade, TUMI and Bath&Body Works that are subordinate to the Singapore Valiram Group.