Taobao offers Alipay payment services in over 900 Hong Kong 7-Eleven stores

7-Eleven is Alibaba's first official partner to sell the Alipay e-voucher in Hong Kong.

Alipay e-voucher is a new payment method for China's biggest online shopping platform, Taobao.com. It replaced Taodot after it was terminated in July.

Customers can buy Alipay e-vouchers worth 100, 200, 500 or 1,000 yuan at 7-Eleven stores in order to seek bargains at Taobao's online shopping sites Taobao Mall and Tmall.

One active Taobao user in Hong Kong commented: "This is good idea because it's hard to open a Taobao account if you don’t have a Mainland Chinese bank account. People can now buy Taobao points in Hong Kong convenience stores to buy things online, and without paying any service charges."

Senior representatives from 7-Eleven and Taobao held a PR event at a 7-Eleven store in Wan Chai yesterday afternoon to promote the service.

Jake Koh (許丕績), group category controller of 7-Eleven Hong Kong & Macau, said the partnership is an important business development for the company, while Taobao and Tmall will benefit from 7-Eleven's extensive convenience store network and 24-hour operations. Taobao online shoppers can now enjoy online shopping with a more efficient and safer payment method, he said.

Daphne Lee (李芃君), director of Taobao international business at Alibaba Group, said that Taobao and Tmall have more than 1 million registered users in Hong Kong and that this partnership with 7-Eleven will allow them to hunt for their favourite items from among 800 million products on offer in their online shopping sites in a more convenient way.

Daphne Lee and Jake Koh

An extensive marketing plan is in place, including placing print ads in the Headline Daily, Metro and Sky Post newspapers in the coming weeks. The home pages of 7-Eleven and Taobao, and other popular forums will also carry promotional messages.

Taobao will run a major sale campaign for men in need of retail therapy during Bachelor Day on Sunday, 11 November.

Earlier this summer, 7-Eleven formed a similar payment partnership with Tencent’s online store, buy.qq.com.

Reported in June, DDB Shanghai has snapped up the creative business of Tmall by Taobao after a competitive pitch in May against four undisclosed agencies.