Moscow, Feb. 21, Russian Satellite News Agency (RSA) "Yandex Payment" plans to connect all stores in Russia serving Chinese tourists to Wechat Payment, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, New Siberia, Sochi, Kazan, Ulanud and Krasnoyarsk.
In November 2018, Yandex Payment, a Russian electronic payment service provider, announced that it would provide convenience for Russian businessmen to accept payment from Chinese tourists by accessing Wechat Payment cross-border business for their partners locally.
Anna Kuzmina, Deputy business manager of Yandex Payment, said: "We hope to connect all businesses in Russia that serve Chinese tourists to Wechat Payment."
Kuzmina said that stores targeting Chinese tourists were doing a lot of work in cities in Russia that received more Chinese tourists. According to Yandex Payment Assessment, Moscow, St. Petersburg, New Siberia, Sochi, Kazan, Ulanud and Krasnoyarsk are the most promising cities to promote Wechat Payment.
"Our main goal is not to help them open Wechat Payment, but to lead Chinese customers to these stores, because Wechat Payment is more like a social network, with huge business promotion and advertising capabilities," she said.
She added that before the peak tourist season, Yandex plans to connect one or more airports and large retailers to Wechat for payment.
According to Kuzmina, Yandex pays mainly for high-end stores that are interested in Chinese customers. "Through recent projects, we hope to start working with Duty Free before the peak season starts," she said.
On January 31, 2019, Yandex Payment became a partner of Sheremetyevo Duty Free Heinemann at Sheremetyevo Airport. At present, 54 duty-free shops in the airport can receive Wechat payment.
She also said that after receiving payment from Wechat, DyFree at Sheremerjevo Airport began to be popular with Chinese tourists, and per capita consumption continued to rise.
She says similar conditions have occurred in stores owned by other partners Yandex pays for. The per capita cost of shopping paid by Wechat reached 3800 roubles ($56).
According to the data of the World Borderless Tourist Association of Russia, in the first nine months of 2018, the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Russia in groups reached 900,000, accounting for 64% of the total number of Chinese tourists.