Alipay’s Rakuten Tie-Up

Alipay, the payments arm of Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba, has taken a giant step away from its massive parent company with a tie-up with Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten.

    Get the Full Story

    Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required.

    yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today.

    By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

    Since last week it has been easier for Chinese customers to use the Rakuten Global Market, Rakuten’s international shopping service, as the company has started accepting Alipay as a payment method. Though Rakuten is dominant in it home-market in Japan, it has had difficulty establishing itself on the international scene.

    The Rakuten tie-up comes as Alibaba prepares for their American IPO. Alipay will not be part of that public offering, as Alipay is no longer part of the Alibaba Group. Alibaba chairman Jack Ma spun off the unit and brought it under his control in 2011 on the ground that the move was necessary due to regulations that wouldn’t allow Alipay to continue as part of Alibaba.

     

    “What’s Hot” is aggregated content. PYMNTS.com claims no responsibility for the accuracy of the content published by the original source.