GOVERNMENT-OWNED Duty Free Philippines (DFP) has partnered again with Alipay to widen its mobile payment platform to include benefits and rewards for customers, especially the Chinese who largely comprise the group of tourists and workers in the country’s growing offshore gaming industry.
The expanded partnership with one of China’s biggest online payment channels now includes up to 20-percent discount on selected luxury brands and 40 renminbi rebates for a minimum spend of 800 RMB at Luxe Duty Free in Pasay City and DFP outlets inside the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
DFP began its partnership with Alipay in November 2018 to cater more to Chinese customers and offer the convenience they enjoy at home, as well as its competitive foreign exchange rate. “We target to increase our market share by meeting the needs of our potential customers by making sure that we keep up with innovations and current trends,” said Vicente Pelagio A. Angala, chief operating officer of DFP.
“These efforts will enhance DFP’s retail presence to continually contribute to the government’s tourism programs and projects through our revenue share with the Department of Tourism,” he added.
Since the mobile payment was introduced late last year, the amount of payments made by Chinese customers through Alipay has grown by about 900 percent.
Also, the number of those who shopped at the said outlets has been consistently increasing, with a 64-percent share to the total count of patrons during the first half of 2019.
Outbound tourists from China to the Philippines in 2018 reached 1.25 million, up 29 percent from a year earlier.
Approximately, there are 130,000 Chinese workers in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator or Pogo industry, working for around 50 licensed gaming firms that are now operating in the country.
Established 32 years ago, DFP is a government-owned and -controlled corporation, providing a duty- and tax-free merchandising system to overseas Filipino workers, repatriates and regular local travelers.
Alipay is a third-party mobile and online payment platform founded in China in 2004 by Jack Ma of Alibaba Group. The largest in the world, its users reached 870 million as of the end of March 2018.