Alibaba’s affiliate alipay opens an office in Australia

Earlier today, Ant Financial, the Alibaba Group affiliate that operates Alipay, China’s largest online payment platform, said that it had taken a minority stake in mobile security technology startup V-Key to beef up the safety of its products as it prepares to expand overseas. Just a few hours later, Alipay announced that it has opened an office in Sydney, Australia to help promote Australian products to Chinese consumers.

今天早些时候，经营着支付宝这个中国最大在线支付平台的阿里巴巴集团子公司蚂蚁金服宣称它已购入移动安全技术初创公司V-Key的少数股份，以加强其产品的安全性，原因是公司准备向海外扩张。就在几个小时后，支付宝宣布它在澳大利亚悉尼成立办事处，用来帮助将澳大利亚的产品带给中国的消费者。

Alipay already has presence in other countries including South Korea, Singapore, London, Luxembourg, U.S. and Hong Kong, but its Sydney office is notable because of China and Australia’s economic importance to each other.

除了澳洲，支付宝也进入了其他国家和地区的市场，其中包括韩国、新加坡、伦敦、卢森堡、美国和香港，不过由于中国和澳大利亚在经济上对彼此的重要性，支付宝位于悉尼的办事处也更具分量。

According to the Australian Department of Foreign affairs, China is Australia’s largest two-way trading partner. In 2013, trade between the two countries amounted to $150 billion AUD (about $130.8 billion). Furthermore, $95 billion AUD (about $82.7 billion) in Australian products were exported to China last year.

据澳大利亚外交部的数据显示，中国是澳大利亚最大的双向贸易伙伴。2013年两国间的贸易额达1500亿澳元（约合1308亿美元）。此外，去年澳大利亚有价值950亿澳元（约合827亿美元）的产品是出口到中国的。

Alibaba’s official blog says Alipay’s Australian office will help local businesses access Alipay’s cross-border payment services. For example, this includes a page on Alibaba Group’s Taobao, the largest consumer-to-consumer marketplace in China, dedicated to promoting Australian food products. Merchandise will be sourced by Zoyu Digital, a Melbourne-based company, and distributed by Chinese logistics provider Sinotrans. China and Australia recently signed a free trade agreement which will remove tariffs from Australian dairy and beef industries imported into China.

阿里巴巴的官方博客表示支付宝的澳大利亚办事处将帮助当地企业获得支付宝的跨境支付服务。例如，这包括了在阿里巴巴集团旗下的淘宝网，同时也是中国最大的C2C网站中有一个专门的页面来宣传澳大利亚的食品。这些商品将由一家总部位于墨尔本的名叫Zoyu Digital的公司进行采购，由中国的物流供应商中外运集团进行分销。中国和澳大利亚最近签署了一项自由贸易协定，它将免除中国进口澳大利亚奶牛和肉牛产业产品的关税。

Alipay also recently helped Australia’s national post service set up a store on Tmall, its online business-to-consumer marketplace, to sell wine, organic maternity wear, and skincare products. The Australia Post and Alipay have also worked together to make Alipay Purchase Cards available in 4,400 retail outlets. Australian consumers can use them to add money to Alipay accounts and pay for goods on Tmall and Taobao.

支付宝最近还帮助澳大利亚邮政在天猫成立了一家商店，用来销售葡萄酒、有机孕妇装和护肤品。澳大利亚邮政和支付宝还一道在本地4400家零售点推广和销售支付宝购物卡。澳大利亚消费者可以用它们为支付宝账户充值，在天猫和淘宝上购买商品。

One of the reasons Alipay took a stake in V-Key is to strengthen the security of its online finance products as it expands into overseas markets.

支付宝参股V-Key其中的一个原因是为了在海外市场的扩张中加强其在线金融产品的安全性。

Alipay wants to grow its business beyond its online payments platform with a new vertical called ePass, which allows Chinese shoppers to buy things directly from overseas sites using Alipay Wallet’s mobile app. Fourteen million Chinese consumers currently make up nearly 78 percent of the total amount of people who make overseas purchases, and spent $16.7 billion in 2013, almost half the value of all cross border online sales, according to Nielsen. Alipay is eager to make sure most of them use their products for transactions. Of course, it goes the other way—Alipay also stands to benefit substantially if international shoppers and SMBs use Alipay to process payments to Chinese vendors.

支付宝希望利用一个被称为ePass的新的垂直领域产品，将其业务增长扩展到其在线支付平台之外。ePass可以让中国的消费者直接使用支付宝钱包的移动应用在国外网站买东西。据尼尔森的数据显示，1400万的中国消费者目前占了进行海外消费总人数的近78％，2013年他们在海外消费上投入了167亿美元，几乎是所有跨境网上销售额的一半。支付宝十分希望能够让大部分的人都使用他们的产品进行交易。当然，这还有另一个方面——如果国际购物者和中小型企业都使用支付宝处理与中国供应商的交易，那支付宝将会受益良多。