On February 6, UnionPay International and Woolworths Supermarkets, the largest supermarket chain in Australia, jointly announced that UnionPay cards (card number starting with 62) are now accepted across selected Woolworths supermarkets. Woolworths is no only offering EMV® chip payment for UnionPay cardholders to transact, but also offering QuickPass payment, the UnionPay contactless and mobile payment services. There are also plans to roll out card acceptance for UnionPay cards to other Woolworths Group brands in the near future. 

According to the latest data from Tourism Australia, Australia received a total of 1.19 million Chinese tourists between November 2015 and November 2016. Up by about 20% year on year and second only to New Zealand which received 1.34 million. From December 2016, Australia began to issue 10-year ‘Frequent Traveler’ Visitor visas to Chinese tourists. This will attract more Chinese tourists to Australia. China is expected to become Australia’s biggest tourist source country. 

Woolworths Group stores, including Woolworths Supermarkets, Dan Murphy’s and BWS liquor stores and BigW discount department stores can be found in local business districts and residential areas as well as near colleges and universities. Its cooperation with UnionPay International in accepting mobile QuickPass will further enrich the payment scenarios of mobile QuickPass in Australia. It also paves the way for the localization of UnionPay’s business and the issuance of UnionPay cards with HCE function.

The Woolworths supermarkets first accepting UnionPay are located in places visited by many tourists or inhabited by many Chinese, such as Sydney and Melbourne. At these stores, cardholders can not only pay with UnionPay cards, but also use UnionPay chip card with the ‘QuickPass’ signage and mobile QuickPass-enabled smartphones at the counters or the contactless terminals of the self-service cashiers. When customers pay with mobile QuickPass at Woolworths supermarkets, a PIN is needed for payments with UnionPay debit cards, while no PIN or signature is required for payments of less than AUD 100 with UnionPay credit cards.

UnionPay chip cards have been issued by all the commercial banks in mainland China and mobile QuickPass based on UnionPay chip cards is becoming increasingly popular among cardholders. Now, UnionPay International is rolling out mobile QuickPass in markets outside mainland China. Outside of the Chinese mainland, Australia is the market with the largest number of POS terminals accepting mobile QuickPass. This means that half of all the physical stores accepting UnionPay cards also support mobile QuickPass. These merchants include Myer department store, Captain Cook Cruises, Harvey Norman, and MUJI, etc.

It is quite convenient to use UnionPay cards in Australia with 90% of the local ATMs and 65% of POS terminals accepting UnionPay cards. After spending over AUD 300, tourists can make a claim for a tax refund at all 15 Customs outlets accepting UnionPay credit cards. Cardholders can download the ‘TRS’ mobile phone app and select UnionPay credit card as the means of accepting the tax refund, complete the tax refund form online and enjoy express tax refund service.