More than 20 million merchants and over 1.3 million ATMs in markets outside mainland China accept UnionPay cards. These merchants and ATMs are located across 160 countries and regions. UnionPay cards have become a commonly used payment method for Chinese outbound tourists. Moreover, more than 10 million online merchants based outside the Chinese mainland support UnionPay Online Payment.
Now, UnionPay International not only offers payment services to Chinese tourists, but also global travellers. When improving its acceptance environment, UnionPay International is taking the preferences and payment habits of overseas customers into consideration to provide secure and convenient payment services for all cardholders.
Drawing a ‘global consumption map’ for cardholders
About three million more merchants were enabled to accept UnionPay each year over the past three years. At present, UnionPay has realized 100% acceptance in Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, Cuba and the UAE. In Northeast and Southeast Asia, over 70% of merchants accept UnionPay. In Europe and America, the use of UnionPay cards keeps expanding: more than 80% of merchants in the US accept UnionPay credit cards, while half of the merchants accepting bank cards in Europe accept UnionPay.
With more than 70 million UnionPay cards issued in 40 countries and regions overseas, the range of merchants is expanding. These merchants not only include those frequented by tourists, such as duty-free stores, shopping centers and hotels, but also include restaurants, places of entertainment and public transport. For example, 90% of convenience store chains in Japan accept UnionPay. In Singapore, cardholders can pay with UnionPay cards at supermarkets, cinemas, gas stations and in taxies. The UnionPay network outside mainland China not only meets the payment demands of cardholders visiting these markets, but also delivers convenient daily payment services to local residents where UnionPay cards are issued.
Besides the continuous improvement of its offline acceptance network, UnionPay is also accepted by over 10 million online merchants based outside mainland China. These merchants not only meet cardholders’ cross-border purchasing demands, but also provide featured services in fields such as airline ticket booking and tuition payment. As such, UnionPay’s service covers all aspects of customers’ travel needs, including ticket and hotel booking, flexible payment, exclusive privileges and discounts, and tax refund services.
Building an acceptance network that offers refined services
UnionPay International is further improving its acceptance network. First, it continues to expand its offline and online acceptance footprint and enrich its card-using experience. Second, it is building core business districts in markets outside mainland China, and is optimizing card-using experiences by improving acceptance quality, increasing the visibility of the UnionPay logo, and carrying out marketing campaigns. Third, it is accelerating the chip migration of its acceptance network, and is promoting issuers to issue UnionPay chip cards. Fourth, it is rolling out UnionPay mobile QuickPass so as to satisfy purchasers’ demands for flexible and secure payment services.
To date, UnionPay International has built 90 core business districts at major tourist attractions, shopping centers and airports in the US, Canada, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In these districts, UnionPay’s merchant coverage is more than 70%, the UnionPay logo is easily found, and exclusive privileges such as VIP lounges and Chinese-speaking shopping assistants are available for UnionPay cardholders.
In addition, over 400,000 POS terminals in markets including Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, the UAE and Canada accept mobile QuickPass. This figure will continue to increase rapidly this year. Customers can use UnionPay chip cards with QuickPass signage and QuickPass-enabled smartphones to pay at these POS terminals.
