During Q1 2012, Alipay will provide thousands of point-of-sale (POS) terminals to more than 60 regional courier companies nationwide. The company also plans to introduce 10,000 of the devices in the first half of 2012 in all first-tier cities, including Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. The POS service is set to expand to second and third-tier cities by the end of 2012. The firm will install 60,000 POS terminals by 2015.
The POS machines will enable merchants to get payments. Online vendors will get paid after 24 hours of delivery, down from three to four days now. Delivery firms will pay a one-time rent of USD 79.4 to use Alipays service and commissions on each transaction they handle.
Alipay, an affiliate of Alibaba Group, provides an escrow payment service which prevents transaction risk for online consumers. Most recently, Alipay has inked a contract with Taiwanese E. Sun Commercial Bank, the banking arm of financial services provider Sun Financial Holding to launch a cross-Taiwan Strait online pay service, which will integrate the services of online payment, logistics, information and marketing, thus allowing mainland Chinese people to purchase Taiwanese goods.
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