Alipay, the electronic payments service of China's Ant Financial Services Group, has announced that it will now be accepted at over 13,000 Lawson convenience stores throughout Japan starting Jan. 24.
The move comes just four days before Chinese New Year. It is an extension of a pilot program, wherein Lawson implemented Alipay payments in nine of its branches last Jan. 2016.
Lawson is currently a leading convenience store operator in Japan.
"More than 60 percent of Lawson's customers are tourists from overseas, spending 20 percent more than domestic shoppers," said Lawson chairman and CEO Genichi Tamatsuka.
According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, Japan receives more visitors from China than any other country, with the Chinese accounting for 26 percent of all foreign tourists in 2016.
Douglas Feagin, the senior vice president of Ant Financial Services Group, said, "Customers will be able to use Alipay to settle payments in Chinese yuan rather than Japanese yen in Lawson stores without an additional service charge."
Feagin added that Lawson also started to introduce Chinese-language in-store radio announcements on Tuesday to cater to Chinese customers.
The partnership is part of a broader strategy, as Alipay moves into overseas markets that are popular with Chinese travelers. Its major rival WeChat Pay, on the other hand, is still confined in China.
A month ago, Alipay announced plans of partnership with Barclays PLC, Paribas Group, SIX Payment Services Ltd., UniCredit SpA and BNP. These are four financial institutions that will enable them to provide payment services to Chinese travelers in nearly a million stores throughout Europe.
Alipay also made deals with other foreign payment firms. This includes Thai payment firm Ascend Money, French payment technology firm Ingenico, India's largest online payment provider Paytm, and U.S. payment processors First Data and Verifone.
Alipay currently has more than 400 million users worldwide.
Ant Financial Group is eyeing an initial public offering in either the Chinese mainland or Hong Kong this year.