Lotte Duty Free has signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Alipay+ as it pre-empts the return of Chinese customers to its stores.

 

Alipay+, the global payment and marketing platform launched by the Ant Group in 2020, supports payment systems in numerous countries such as China, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Korea.

 

The signing ceremony, held at the Lotte Duty Free Shop headquarters in Seoul on 10 February, was attended by major officials from both companies, including Lotte Duty Free CEO Kap Lee and Ant Group Korea CEO Jung Hyung-kwon.

 

“Through the business agreement, Lotte Duty Free is planning to advance into the Chinese market…to enhance customer convenience in Asia as well as launching the Lotte Duty Free mini program within the Alipay app.”

 

MALAYSIA, THE PHILIPPINES AND INDONESIA

Lotte Duty Free introduced Hong Kong’s Alipay HK for the first time in domestic duty free on 21 April.

 

Through the MOU, payment systems were additionally launched in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

 

“Furthermore, we plan to continuously expand the simple payment infrastructure throughout Asia, including Japan and Thailand,” said Lotte.

 

Lotte Duty Free plans to enhance the convenience of duty free shopping for customers in China and Southeast Asia where credit card penetration is low through the Alipay+ digital payment solution.

 

RESTARTING GLOBAL MARKETING

Lotte CEO, Kap Lee said: “This agreement will solidify the cooperative relationship that has been in place since 2012 and serve as an opportunity for Lotte Duty Free to start global marketing again.

 

“We will build the best duty free shopping infrastructure for this.”

 

While Korea’s leading travel retailer points out that customers can shop via Lotte Duty Free’s mini program online, it will launch the mini program via the Alipay app in March to enhance its ecommerce offer to Chinese customers.

 

Alipay’s Mini Program is an app-in-app platform that allows companies to provide their own services without downloading a separate application. Alipay users can enjoy shopping with Lotte byt accessing the mini program page and searching for ‘Lotte Duty Free Shop’.