Yandex.Checkout introduces WeChat Pay to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport

Yandex.Checkout becomes a partner of Sheremetyevo Duty Free Heinemann to provide duty-free and retail stores on the territory of the Sheremetyevo International Airport with WeChat Pay. This service works as an e-wallet based on the Chinese WeChat messenger.

According to the WeChat’s data, the company’s messenger is used by 1 billion people every month, and the WeChat Pay service is used by 900 million people. Presently, payments via WeChat Pay are accepted at over 1 million outlets worldwide.

“It is important for us to provide both buyers and sellers with convenient payment options to carry out transactions, that’s why we connected the stores of the Sheremetyevo Duty Free Heinemann trading network to WeChat Pay, the payment system of the most popular messenger in China. Now, Chinese tourists will be able to pay for purchases in Russia’s largest airport as quickly, conveniently, and safely as they do at home,” says Anna Murzina, Head of foreign business development at Yandex.Checkout.

“Sheremetyevo is the leader among Russian airports in terms of passenger traffic from China, both main and transit. Chinese buyers are the key audience for our trading network. Expanding payment options for customers is a prerequisite for quality service in our stores. Given the diverse functionality and the popularity of WeChat in China, payments with this messenger definitely have commercial potential for us. We hope the cooperation with Yandex.Checkout will be long and successful for both parties,” says Vitaly Bavin, CEO of the Sheremetyevo Duty Free Heinemann (Imperial Duty Free JSC).

Payments via WeChat Pay are contactless and processed via QR codes. At checkout, the customers simply need to open the WeChat app on their smartphone, generate the code for the purchase amount in the messenger, let the cashier scan the QR code, and confirm the payment from their phone. No commission is charged from the customer.

Sheremetyevo is the only European air hub serving 8 Chinese airlines. The airport ranks first in the world in Chinese-European transfers: in 2018, more than 1 million 190 thousand passengers had a transfer in Sheremetyevo, which is 13.4% more compared to 2017. In 2018, passenger traffic between Sheremetyevo Airport and China exceeded 2 million 362 thousand people, making it 14% more than a year earlier.

Sheremetyevo Duty Free Heinemann is the largest network of duty-free shops on the territory of Russian airports. The network includes 54 outlets located at terminals A, B, D, E, F of the Sheremetyevo International Airport. Sheremetyevo Duty Free Heinemann stores offer perfume and cosmetics, alcohol, apparel, watches, jewelry, and more.

Thanks to Yandex.Checkout, any company can accept payments via WeChat Pay. All you need to do is enter into a contract with the payment solution and install its Android app on a smartphone or tablet. This application will allow you to generate and scan QR codes and use them to accept payments.