New Foreign Mobile Payment Service Introduced For Chinese Oversea Consumers Shopping In Canada

Motion Pay Technology launches Canadian pilot program with Birks

February 23, 2017 – A pilot program launched today by Motion Pay Technology and Birks, Canada’s leading jeweller since 1879, heralds a new era of foreign mobile payment services for Chinese tourists and oversea consumers shopping in Canada. Both Alipay and WeChat Pay are now available at Birks’ Rideau Centre location in Ottawa making Birks the first merchant to accept WeChat Pay in North America, and one of the first to accept Alipay in Canada. This service will soon roll out to nine additional Birks stores across the country, including Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.

With the Motion Pay payment processing platform, Chinese travelers can now purchase jewellery from a Birks store by scanning QR codes generated on their mobile devices to make a direct payment from their AliPay or WeChat wallet accounts in China. The Ottawa company offers the Chinese traveler to Canada a fully-integrated payment solution delivered on their mobile device.

 

Motion Pay, established in 2015, is the first mobile payment service company in Canada to have working partnerships with Alipay and WeChat Pay, the largest payment service providers in China — totaling 90% of the mobile payments market share. With these two agreements in place, Motion Pay has established a fully licensed, backend server platform and system that enables Canadian merchants to accept China RMB payments with its high security, handheld smart point-of-sales (POS) terminals.

 

The new Motion Pay payment services are a significant development for Canadian retail. Statistics Canada reports visitors from China as one of the largest overseas pleasure travel markets in Canada. In 2015, 483,000 Chinese travelers injected an estimated $1 Billion in the Canadian economy, spending over $2,055 per trip.

 

“Our cross-border payment solution is a win-win for Chinese consumers and for Canadian retailers,” states Riven Zhang, CEO and co-founder of Motion Pay Technology. “Chinese travelers can use Motion Pay to easily make a POS purchase accessing their preferred Chinese payment provider. With Motion Pay, there is no need to acquire Canadian dollars and pay foreign exchange fees.”

 

“For Canadian retailers, it will be attractive to offer the Motion Pay payment solution to the hundreds of thousands of Chinese who travel within Canada each year and will now be able to make purchases with a direct payment using their preferred mobile-payment methods in China,” says Mr. Zhang.

 

Birks Group’s Vice President of Business Development & Support, Marco Pasteris welcomes the innovative payment technology in their stores. “We are very pleased to be initiating this pilot program with Motion Pay for the convenience of our customers travelling from China. The Birks Group is especially proud that we are the first merchant to accept WeChat Pay in North America and one of the first to accept Alipay in Canada.”

 

Motion Pay’s CEO is bullish on what the immediate future holds. Mr. Zhang states, “We want to offer our customers the chance to shop at high-end retailers like Birks, popular tourist destinations, restaurants, and independent, family-owned businesses that serve Chinese tourists. Our opportunities are endless as we raise awareness about the Motion Pay product and service and begin to sign on Canadian retailers and service providers.”

 

Motion Pay Technology website is www.motionpay.ca.

 

MEDIA

 

Mr. Riven Zhang

CEO

Motion Pay Technology 

Phone: 613-319-6686
Email:  riven@motionpay.ca

 

Mr. Francis Guindon

Director of Brand Communications

Birks Group Inc.

Phone: 514-397-2501 x. 4065
Email:  fguindon@birksgroup.com