NEWS
Camden Market first to offer WeChat Pay
in the UK with SafeCharge
constantly exploring new opportunities to
enhance our payments solutions.”
“We are extremely pleased to be working
with WeChat and SafeCharge to integrate
WeChat Pay into our point of sales system
at Camden Market,” said Ceri Davies,
Operations Director of Camden Market.
“With hundreds of thousands of Chinese
visitors coming to London each year, we feel
that this is another way in which we can
continue to promote the heritage of Camden
Market abroad, and attract new visitors
to our shops, stalls and restaurants. With
over 30,000 visitors a day, Camden Market
remains one of London’s most enduring
attractions, and we believe that this is a
great way to adapt to the growing number
of Chinese locals and tourists who visit the
market. We are constantly on the lookout
for new and innovative ways to support our
tenants and hope that this integration will
allow our merchants to continue to meet the
needs of a diverse London.”
S
afeCharge, a leading payments
technology company, in partnership
with Camden Market, a part of the Market
Tech portfolio, has announced the ground-
breaking integration of WeChat Pay, a widely
adopted e-Wallet payment solution in China.
The iconic Camden Market, London’s fourth
biggest tourist destination, is the first in the
UK to make WeChat Pay available at the
point of sale. Chinese tourists and the UK’s
Chinese community will now be able to shop
using their preferred payment method as the
introduction of the payment system begins
and WeChat is implemented in stages across
Camden Market.
WeChat Pay has revolutionised payments
in China and is now rapidly extending its
reach into Europe. In 2017 alone, €1.5
trillion in payments has been processed
by WeChat Pay globally and the service
accounts for 40% of the Chinese mobile
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payment market, (according to iResearch).
This is significant for merchants in Europe, as
the total amount spent by Chinese tourists
exceeds the amount spent by European and
US tourists combined, with 50% of luxury
purchases in Europe made by tourists from
Asia. Unlike some eWallets and contactless
payments, which are capped at £30 per
transaction, WeChat Pay offers more
flexibility to merchants and consumers.
Therefore, it is a competitive differentiator
for merchants to be able to offer the
payment service.
“We are proud to be the first in the UK to
integrate WeChat Pay at the point of sale in
Camden Market. This innovative payment
method is seen as the next big payment
phenomenon in Europe,” stated David
Avgi, CEO SafeCharge. “This integration
demonstrates that we are at the forefront
of payments technology, where we are
One of the first tenants to accept WeChat
Pay, Killa Dilla’s co-founder Joshua Whiting
said; “We love to bring new technology
into our operations and we are very excited
to be one of the first UK businesses to be
using WeChat Pay. WeChat Pay is massive
in China and we believe the way this “app
for everything” integrates social media,
messaging and payment systems will be
hugely beneficial for our business.”
Han Chin, Creative Director at Studio
Collection, said; “Chinese/Asian students
and tourists have flooded into London
over the last few years. Recently, more
and more of these shoppers have started
acknowledging the existence of Camden
Town. As a retailer, it is our job to create a
flexible, convenient shopping experience for
our customers and WeChat Pay allows us to
do this for our new demographic of visitor.
WeChat Pay is a revolutionary reform for the
retail payment system and we are excited
to be a part of this latest development
in trading technologies. Not only is it an
efficient trading platform, with the WeChat
messaging service we can communicate with
customers in real time, introducing the latest
products in more detail as well as helping us
to improve our customer service overseas.”
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