AirPass and 18Communications team up to target Chinese tourism in Aus
AirPass has signed an agreement with 18Communications to launch WeChat Shopping Week in Australia to encourage tourism.
July is known as a time for Chinese tourists to travel to Queensland for their summer holidays. To caplitalise on this opportunity and to make the tourists' experience as enjoyable as possible the subsidiary of AirPay Financial Technologies and SwiftPass has partnered with 18Communications to assist local businesses targeting Chinese shoppers.
They are doing this by providing the ability to accept payments using WeChat and similar services, as well as offering discounts and incentives to shop in Australian stores.
Accepting payment methods favoured by Chinese shoppers is becoming essential for Australian retailers and service providers, with 93% of Chinese tourists preferring to use mobile payments such as WeChat Pay and Alipay when travelling overseas, according to a statement from the company.
Beyond accepting WeChat Pay/Alipay payments and offering package deals, AirPass and 18Communications are also offering Australian businesses access to the Chinese social platform with unique content creation, key opinion leader outreach, public relations and marketing services.
WeChat Shopping Week commenced with a pop-up kiosk alongside the Gucci store at Pacific Fair shopping centre.
It offered shoppers WeChat Red Packet promotions, gift redemptions, digital coupons to spend at online food/travel marketplace HarkHark, sweet treats for tourists staying in Rhapsody Resort and free SkyPoint Observation Deck tickets when staying at Q1 Resort - Spa. Various merchants signed up with AirPass.
18Communications chief executive Roxy Jacenko says, "We believe aligning the agency and my group with AirPass will see great benefits to many clients who are starting to understand the importance of the Chinese consumer here in Australia.
AirPass chief executive Jimmy Zhu says, "AirPass' agreement with 18Communications significantly enhances its marketing and social management prowess.
A finalist in FinTech Australia's 2019 Finnie Awards, AirPass has been adopted by major retailers including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Valentino, Givenchy, Off-White, Mulberry, Furla, Aje, AliceMcCall, Harrolds, Marais, Paspaley, Folli Follie, Sneakerboy, Glue Store, Culture Kings, etc.
It supports all Chinese payment methods including WeChat Pay, Alipay and UnionPay. It addition it allows eCommerce merchants to accept WeChat Pay and Alipay online via Shopify, Magento and AsiaPay PayDollar plugins.
Such a service is important as Queensland is popular with Chinese tourists, the company states. In 2018, more than 500,000 Chinese tourists spent close to $1.3 billion in the state. Furthermore, cross the country each year more than 1.4 million Chinese tourists spend an average of $8,900 per trip, which results in $12 billion going into the Australia economy, according to the statement.
