Alipay, China's leading online-payment platform, has inked a deal with French-based company Ingenico Group, in a bid to increase it's foothold in the European market, Bloomberg reported.   

"With this partnership, Aliplay will be embedded into Ingenico's in-store payment gateway," Ingenico said in a statement. The agreement was signed on Wednesday.  

Like Us on Facebook

A strategic partnership with Ingenico will help Aliplay to cater to Chinese tourists visiting European countries. Every year, Chinese tourists visiting European countries spend billions of dollars on shopping, representing a huge market for Alipay. Ingenico has thousands of merchants and retailers, and its customers are spread across 150 countries.

Jacques Behr, Ingenico's head of Europe and Africa, described the partnership as a "must have" in the current market conditions. However, he refused to comment on the expected revenue that Ingenico would get from this partnership.

In recent months, Alipay has been striking partnership deals with many companies to consolidate its presence in the European market. In June, Alipay bought a 25 percent stake in German banking software company Wirecard AG, while it is already said to be in talks with several other European financial companies.  

Alipay, which is a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is also betting big on its investment in emerging markets. One of its prominent investment in emerging markets in Paytm, one of India's biggest and leading e-commerce players.

Alipay boasts of over 450 million active users and enjoys an 80 percent market share of China's online payment market. Alipay's domination has left US online payment giant Paypal struggling in the lucrative Chinese market.

TagsAlipay, Alibaba, china, Ingenico