Alibaba-related company Alipay Offers Service that allows Alipay customers to pay for items at Canadian businesses

Alipay, the mobile payment processing service that rose out of Chinese online business e-commerce giant Alibaba, is growing its Canadian presence.

The company is partnering together with mobile payment application SnapPay in a move that will permit Alipay’s 520 million worldwide users to utilize their Alipay mobile wallets to pay for items and servives at participating Canadian merchants that acknowledge SnapPay both in-store and on the web.

“By partnering with SnapPay, we are connecting sought-after Canadian retailers and brands with Chinese consumers who want to be able to pay with a familiar payment method,” Alipay North America president Souheil Badran said. “We are thrilled to expand our reach in Canada with SnapPay.”

Alipay launched in Canada a year ago, however Monday’s declaration will see the service extend exponentially. Monday’s settlement will make it easy for Chinese customers to utilize their Alipay mobile wallets to buy things from Canada and somewhere else on the web, and afterward inquire as to whether they need to pay in either U.S. dollars or Chinese yuan.

Canadian businesses traded more than $19 billion worth of products to China a year ago, the biggest add up to any single country beside the United States.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma was close by at the occasion, encouraging Canadian small businesses to think big. “If you are not globalized, you will never be able to survive,” he said. “Think globally.”

As of now, the service has more than 520 million active users.

More than 700 Canadian merchants, including Arcteryx, Canada Goose, Lululemon, Viva Naturals, Aldo and SunRype, as of now acknowledge Alipay, however Monday’s declaration ought to extend that presence.