Wirecard technology will launch at 13 airports prior to a global rollout.

Gebr. Heinemann has struck a partnership with digital financial technologies specialist Wirecard to implement the most popular Chinese payment methods at Heinemann Duty Free and Travel Value stores.

Platforms including Alipay are being integrated into the Hamburg-based travel retailer’s central checkout systems, with an initial launch spanning 13 airports, including its home bases in Germany, acting as a precursor to a global rollout.

Raoul Spanger, Executive Director Retail & HR Gebr. Heinemann said: “Chinese tourists are becoming an increasingly important target group worldwide. We are pleased to now be able to offer our Chinese guests their domestic mobile payment methods thanks to Wirecard. Through the marketing platforms provided by Alipay, for example, we will be able to provide them with personalised offers for our range of products before they leave.”

DIGITISING PAYMENT PROCESSES

Heinemann Duty Free, a popular destination for Chinese travellers, is embarking on a drive to appeal to more millennial generation consumers via new concepts and merchandising techniques as demonstrated by its recent #looklab beauty iteration at Copenhagen Airport T2.

Wirecard’s introduction opens up Heinemann’s inventory to a younger, financially strong target group while optimising sell-through, with Wirecard claiming that its other customers who have responded to Chinese payment habits have almost quadrupled their sales from Chinese tourists within 12 months.

Christian Reindl, Executive Vice President Sales Consumer Goods at Wirecard added: “Chinese consumers now expect retailers worldwide to offer them familiar payment experiences. We are therefore pleased to have won Gebr. Heinemann as a new customer, with whom we are planning to jointly shape the digitisation of payment processes.”

Listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Wirecard provides ‘both corporate clients and consumers with a constantly expanding ecosystem of real-time value-added services built around innovative digital payments by using an integrated B2B2C approach’.