Alipay Accepted At Walgreens Nationwide

Alipay’s mobile payment platform will now be available at thousands of Walgreens locations throughout the U.S.

“Walgreens is focused on making shopping more convenient for our customers. This collaboration has particular significance for our customer population from China, who now have a new way to experience Walgreens,” Richard Ashworth, Walgreens president of operations, said in a press release. “Not only can they buy our products via our dedicated store on Alibaba’s Tmall Global marketplace, but they will now also be able to shop in the U.S. using Alipay as they would in China. We look forward to the ongoing evolution of our partnership with Alibaba Group.”

Alipay is currently available at 3,000 Walgreens stores in cities including New York , San Francisco and Las Vegas. By April, Alipay is set to expand to more than 7,000 Walgreens locations across the country, making it the largest U.S. drugstore chain to use Alipay.

“This is a key strategic partnership for achieving awareness in the U.S., as Walgreens is one of the country’s largest drugstore chains. Alipay’s offline, in-store payment service is offered in more than 40 countries and regions, so we are excited to partner with a company that has been trusted across America since 1901, and is constantly evolving to provide more Chinese consumers a seamless and familiar way to pay,” said Yulei Wang, general manager, Alipay North America.

This announcement comes a little over a month after Walgreens revealed that it was bringing handheld tablets and mobile computers from Zebra Technologies Corporation into its stores across the U.S.

Walgreens chief information officer and senior vice president Steve Turner said in the announcement, “Every customer has a unique need when shopping, so each experience needs to be personalized for it to be successful. Zebra’s mobile solutions make it easy and frictionless for our team members to complete store management tasks and assist shoppers, so that we can focus on delivering the best possible experience for customers every time.”