Major Japanese convenience store chain to use China's Alipay

Chinese tourists in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district in Japan during the Lunar New Year Holiday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

TOKYO - Japan's major convenience store chain Lawson and China's Ant Financial Services Group jointly announced here on Monday that customers will be able to use China's online payment solution Alipay to pay for commodities in the around 13,000 Lawson stores in Japan from Tuesday.

"Lawson introduced the Alipay solution in 9 stores in Jan 2016 for a test run and now this service will be extended to all of Lawson's stores in Japan," said Genichi Tamatsuka, CEO of Lawson.

The convenience store chain has upgraded its facilities so that Chinese customers can use the Alipay app on their cellphones to pay in a convenient way for the commodities they have bought in Lawson, he said.

"Chinese tourists are an important source of customers for Lawson," he added.

Douglas Feagin, senior vice president of Ant Financial Services Group, said that customers can use Alipay in Lawson to settle their payment in Chinese yuan in real time without any extra fee.

Meanwhile, Lawson and Ant Financial Services Group will also jointly launch a series of promotional activities in Lawson stores in Japan during China's Spring Festival, including offering discounts in certain stores to Chinese customers who use Alipay, he said.

Alipay entered into the Japanese market in Dec 2015. The 13,000 Lawson stores will bring the number of Japanese stores providing Alipay solution to a total of some 20,000.