In a clever move by the company based in Cupertino to improve sales in the Asian country and reduce the animosity suffered by being a foreign company, Apple has decided to accept the popular service AliPay in its 41 physical stores in China.
Is the first time that Apple welcomes a mobile payment other than its own, in an attempt to get closer to the local population and improve the brand sentiment of the Chinese with the different products offered there.
The news was announced by a subsidiary of Alibaba, a well-known online market in the country, which announced yesterday that AliPay It will be the first non-brand mobile payment system accepted by Apple in its physical stores.
The already accepted Apple Pay service is joined by this popular payment method, widely accepted in the Asian continent. Apple Pay is spread across the globe but, as with the company's other services, in the Asian country they are not reaping the expected figures, which is why the Cupertino offices have come to make this decision.
Although AliPay began a little over a year ago to be accepted in online purchases on Apple's website, bringing this service to physical stores of the company is a step whose objective is none other than to sympathize more with the Chinese customer, which is still reluctant to buy foreign products.
For some years now, the relations between the North American company and Alibaba have been strengthened, to the point that there is potential for a partnership between payment services, as confirmed by both Apple CEO Tim Cook and Jack Ma, Alibaba. Even though that idea fell through in late 2016, the relationship between both CEOs has not been bad and collaboration agreements are not ruled out in the future.
