As the New Year’s Day is around the corner, UnionPay has rolled out its New Year offers. Consumers can enjoy various discounts at both Chinese merchants and nearly 1,000 big-name overseas e-commerce retailers when shopping with UnionPay.

The campaign for overseas shopping is a small part of the endeavors UnionPay International (UPI) has made to constantly optimize payment services, meet the purchasing needs of UnionPay cardholders during the challenging times, and further boost the recovery of global consumer market. A great number of international e-commerce merchants joined the UnionPay acceptance network this year, which boosts the total of UnionPay online merchants to more than 20 million across over 200 countries and regions. Besides, UPI has been working on expanding use cases of daily purchasing and offering convenient payment tools to leave cardholders with peace of mind when making payments.

The shift to online transactions that benefits both merchants and customers

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, industries worldwide, including tourism and aviation, have ground to a halt. This leads to challenges in, for example, customer acquisition for merchants and reduced purchasing options for consumers. Therefore, UPI has been collaborating with different industry players and enrolling more online merchants in sectors such as food delivery, grocery, retail, tuition payment, and digital entertainment to move more transactions to the Internet. This year, UPI has seen a year-on-year growth of nearly 10% in e-commerce transactions. The expansion is particularly rapid with the merchants that serve everyday needs. For instance, in Australia, where a large Chinese community with residents and students is based, UnionPay transactions for food deliveries doubled year-on-year.

UPI has also launched the UnionPay PayByLink service by leveraging its strengths in technology and products. Small and micro-sized merchants can now provide their customers with UnionPay online payment service via means such as SMS and e-mail without the need to open stores on e-commerce platforms. At present, this service is available at more than 100 merchants in markets such as Hong Kong, Thailand and European markets.

A recent study in Germany shows that more than half of the respondents prefer to shop for the New Year’s holiday online. Therefore, UPI has offered 10% instant discounts with cross-border e-commerce platforms in 11 countries and regions including Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, the United States, Canada and Southeast Asia, which will further improve customer experience in their New Year shopping. The promotion is participated by well-known platforms including Farfetch, Mytheresa, and iHerb.

Optimized payment services to make payments securer

As cross-border travels hit a new low this year, UPI constantly enhances its capabilities of serving local residents. So far, the UnionPay acceptance network has extended to 179 countries and regions, almost half of which accept UnionPay mobile payments. UPI continues to develop use cases in day-to-day purchases, public transit, and tuition payments. Transactions in supermarkets, for instance, have surged by 50% in volume.

UnionPay payment products are becoming increasingly accessible and diverse outside Mainland China. At present, 145 million UnionPay cards have been issued in 62 countries and regions outside Mainland China and 90 UnionPay-powered e-wallets have been implemented. In the first 10 months of this year, the transaction volume of UnionPay cards issued overseas grew by 6%.

Upon the arrival of a new year, a large number of well-known supermarkets in Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and many other markets are offering exclusive discounts for UnionPay cardholders. In Macao, Thailand, Singapore and other places where progress has been made to contain the virus, UPI partners with local tourism bureaus, financial institutions, merchants and other market players to roll out New Year offers. UnionPay cardholders in these areas can enjoy a wide range of discounts and benefits for their shopping and dining experiences.