The news: Adyen partnered with Simons, Canada’s oldest family-owned retail business, to make Klarna, AliPay, and WeChat available at checkout.

Why this matters: Simons is the first retailer in Canada to offer Klarna in-person through Adyen’s platforms. These integrations give Klarna an edge in North America as it competes with Affirm. 

Working with AliPay and WeChat Pay also demonstrates legacy Canadian businesses' eagerness to snap up spend from Chinese Canadians, who are Canada’s second-largest group of Asian Canadians, per the 2021 Canadian census. 

Aligning with wealthy spend: Like Adyen’s recent partnership with luxury goods group LVMH, Adyen’s adoption of AliPay and WeChat brings the retailer closer to higher earning individuals—in this case, Chinese tourists. 

More payment processors and issuers are redirecting their strategies toward capturing wealthy spend as working- and middle-class spend falters. Serving tourists with their preferred payment methods can help retailers sustain sales while domestic consumers pull back.

Our take: Deepening merchant partnerships can help alternative finance platforms gain a foothold in new territories. Klarna has pushed tie-ups with Walmart, Bolt, and DoorDash to break into the US and Canadian markets, a formula that seems to be working as it waits for its Klarna Card to get off the ground in North America. 

This strategy also bodes well for WeChat Pay and AliPay, which have been trying to increase their international acceptance and spend.

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