Tomas Mostany, Senior Vice President, Product Tax Free Shopping at Global Blue, commented: “Global Blue and Tencent are working on a number of joint initiatives around refunding, marketing and value added services, designed to improve the Globe Shopper experience and add value to our merchant partners. The addition of WeChat to the Refund Process is the first concrete implementation, with more innovation to come in the near future.”

QR CODE ACTIVATION

Having made their purchases, Chinese travellers can select WeChat as the payment option when arriving at the refund counter in Madrid.

To activate the service, shoppers simply scan a QR code located on the refund counter using the WEChat app on their smartphone.

This will open a mini-app and generate a unique barcode for the refund vendor to scan.

The code is then scanned, the refund amount is confirmed and payment approved to the traveller’s WeChat wallet. A real-time notification confirms the refund has been successfully deposited.

Global Blue says Chinese shoppers remain the number one global shopping group in Europe, with over 70% choosing to claim VAT refunds at airports.

TENCENT’S NEXT MOVE..

Today’s news of the new tie-up with Global Blue follows last month’s joint equity investment and business cooperation between Tencent and ecommerce conglomerate JD.com in Vipshop.

As reported by TRBusiness, Tencent will pay around $604m for a 7% stake in Vipshop and JD.com will invest $259m for a 5.5% stake in a transaction that is sure to raise attention in travel retail given the scale and logistical prowess of the companies.

Martin Lau, President of China-based Tencent, indicated at the time of the move that he sees substantial demand from its users to discover, discuss and purchase branded apparel via its applications in order to enrich the retailing experience through platforms such as Vipshop.