PLEASANTON, Calif.,
Jan. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/
-- Blackhawk Network, a global financial technology company,
and Alipay, a leading digital payment platform operated by Ant
Financial Services Group, have partnered to expand Alipay's mobile
payment acceptance and engagement offerings to participating U.S.
retailers. Leveraging Blackhawk's
technology, the partnership will present an opportunity for
Blackhawk's network of retail
partners to elect to engage with visiting Chinese travelers.
Blackhawk intends to roll out the
service in select participating retailers beginning January 2018.
Alipay currently boasts more than 520 million active Chinese
users. Through this partnership, Blackhawk's retailers intend to connect with
Alipay users traveling in the U.S. by accepting in-store payment
via Alipay and are searchable to users on Alipay's Discover
platform. Retailers can increase brand visibility, drive store
traffic and sales, reduce payment friction and gain valuable
insight into their tourist consumers' preferences.
"Until now, Chinese tourists lacked convenient access to
information on what payment methods were accepted at U.S. retailers
they wished to visit," said Talbott
Roche, CEO and president of Blackhawk. "Alipay is ubiquitous in
China, and represents an effective
way for retailers to engage with Chinese travelers. We are excited
to offer our retail partners a way to better connect with Chinese
consumers by alleviating the major pain points of shopping,
researching and paying while visiting and ultimately, providing
Alipay users with an excellent shopping experience while they
travel here in the U.S.."
Blackhawk's innovative solution
leverages in-store QR codes to access Blackhawk's proprietary platform which then
enables instant issuance of a retailer's branded stored-value
egift. In addition to mobile and online payments and money
transfers, Alipay users can get local recommendations, find
promotions, book a hotel, buy movie tickets or even make doctors'
appointments directly within the app.
"Approximately 4 million Chinese tourists visit North America every year1. Many of
those travelers are Alipay consumers already and are looking for
the payment safety, convenience and efficiency they are accustomed
to at home," said Souheil Badran,
president of Alipay Americas. "We partnered with Blackhawk for its robust network of top-tier
retailer partners, its innovative solutions and proprietary
technology, and we are pleased to continue to provide Chinese
travelers with a seamless shopping and payment experience in
North America."
About Blackhawk Network
Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAWK) is a global
financial technology company and a leader in connecting brands and
people through branded value solutions. Blackhawk platforms and solutions enable the
management of stored value products, promotions and incentive
programs in retail, ecommerce, financial services and mobile
wallets. Blackhawk's Hawk Commerce
division offers technology solutions to businesses and direct to
consumers. The Hawk Incentives division offers enterprise, SMB and
reseller partners an array of platforms and branded value products
to incent and reward consumers, employees and sales channels.
Headquartered in Pleasanton,
Calif., Blackhawk operates
in 26 countries. For more information, please visit
blackhawknetwork.com, hawkcommerce.com, hawkincentives.com or our
product websites giftcards.com, giftcardmall.com, cardpool.com,
giftcardlab.com and omnicard.com.
About Alipay
Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world's
largest mobile and online payment platform. Launched in 2004,
Alipay currently has over 520 million active Chinese users and over
200 financial institution partners in China. Alipay has evolved from a digital
wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel,
buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with
doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from
within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding
to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of
China. Over 40 million
brick-and-mortar merchants now accept Alipay across China. Alipay's in-store payment service
covers more than 35 countries and regions across the world, and tax
reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 24 countries and regions.
Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and
payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for
Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase
products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports
27 currencies. Follow us on Twitter @antfinancial and @alipay.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as
well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove
incorrect, could cause the results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including,
without limitation: risks related to the timing of acceptance by
U.S. retailers of this new service, and future launch of new
technology services. The statements contained in this press release
that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the use
of words such as, but not limited to, "anticipate," "believe,"
"can," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may,"
"plan," "project," "seek," "should," "target," "will," "would" and
similar expressions or variations intended to identify
forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the
beliefs and assumptions of Blackhawk's management based on information
currently available to management. Such forward-looking statements
are subject to risks, uncertainties and other important factors
that could cause actual results and the timing of certain events to
differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute
to such differences include, but are not limited to, those
identified in the "Risk Factors" section in Blackhawk's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Furthermore, such forward-looking statements
speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as required
by law, Blackhawk undertakes no
obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect
events or circumstances after the date of such statements.
1 Ant Financial Proprietary Research - 2017
CONTACT:
Courtney
Brunkow
Courtney@fletchergroupllc.com
303-717-9575
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SOURCE Blackhawk Network