UnionPay cross-border online payment service has been favored by an increasing number of global cardholders. The cross-border online transaction volume of UnionPay cards increased by nearly three times in 2015. Meanwhile, more and more overseas cardholders prefer to use UnionPay cards for online payment, and the online transaction volume of UnionPay cards issued overseas witnessed an increase of six times last year.

According to China e-Business Research Center, the transaction volume of China’s cross-border e-commerce reached 2 trillion RMB, with a year-on-year growth of 43%. Two factors contributed to the rapid increase of the cross-border online transaction volume of UnionPay cards: First, more and more customers get used to paying online. Data from China Internet Network Information Center shows that, by the end of last year, 416 million people in China pay online, which is 112 million more than that of the year before. Second, an increasing number of overseas online merchants accept UnionPay cards. Currently, over 10 million online merchants in about 200 countries and regions outside the Chinese mainland accept UnionPay cards.

In recent years, UnionPay International has continually spread its acceptance footprint online, optimized its services, and improved cardholders’ card-using experiences, by cooperating with the world’s major acquirers, such as WorldPay, PayPal, Global Collect and Adyen. Data from UnionPay International show that iTunes, Amazon USA, Shilla Duty Free in South Korea, Air Asia, Agoda and Booking are all merchants frequently visited by Chinese customers. Moreover, an increasing number of cardholders pay with UnionPay cards online at Turkish visa application website or when applying for UK visa online.

It is worth noting that the cross-border online payment service of UnionPay cards not only satisfies Chinese customers’ demands for “Shopping around the World”, but also become a special feature in fields of travel booking, airline booking and overseas tuition payment. The expansion of the diversified application of UnionPay online payment extends UnionPay services from card-using in destinations to booking prior to departure. Take overseas tuition payment as an example: over 1,200 overseas colleges and universities accept UnionPay cards for tuition payment, and overseas tuition payment with UnionPay cards increased nearly two times last year. UnionPay delivers secure and convenient payment experiences to exchange students and their parents.

Based on its study on Chinese consumers’ cross-border spending for years, UnionPay International has constructed the website of “Shop The World” (haigou.unionpay.com), which provides considerate services including commodity recommendation, translation and secure payment. According to Li Li, an office lady in Shanghai, “the platform is just like an online UnionPay ‘select shop’, directly displaying and importing the most fashionable and quality commodities of overseas e-merchants. There is no need to worry about payment failure or fake products. Instead, it offers exclusive privileges for UnionPay cardholders from time to time. The website also juxtaposes similar products of the same country so that customers can shop for the best deal.”

It is very convenient for the Chinese customers to conduct cross-border online payment with UnionPay cards. Meanwhile, overseas cardholders are able to pay online at an increasing number of e-merchants in China. Now, DinoDirect, China Southern Airlines and all Ctrip websites in foreign languages accept UnionPay cards issued overseas. With the continual increase of UnionPay cards issued overseas, as well as the optimization of card-using service system, the online transaction volume of UnionPay cards issued overseas has exceeded that of UnionPay cards issued in the Chinese mainland since last year.

To use UnionPay cards for cross-border online payment, cardholders only need to verify their UnionPay card number, telephone number and other necessary information. UnionPay Online Payment use a self-owned Internet system, providing users with a whole set of security products including protection control, dynamic mobile phone password and information encrypted transmission, therefore can comprehensively ensure the security of cross-border online payment.