Alipay’s Touch and Pay to Transform 30 Million Offline Touchpoints Into an AI-Driven Business Network

Following the launch of a full-stack AI payment system and the AI-powered Alipay assistant "Abao," Alipay announced on July 8 that its "Touch and Pay" solution has undergone a comprehensive AI upgrade. The millions of "Touch and Pay" devices deployed with merchants have been transformed into "Touch Device Agents," while Alipay simultaneously introduced the "Touch Everything Agent" service platform for small and medium-sized businesses alongside the "AI Open Base." After two years of intensive development, "Touch and Pay" now serves 400 million users, collaborates with 2,300 ecosystem service providers, and operates over 30 million offline AI touchpoints, establishing the world's first large-scale offline AI business network.

This upgrade enables "Touch and Pay" to seamlessly bridge online Agents with offline scenarios. Users can access Skill services, such as coupons and exclusive discounts, by simply tapping their phones against a merchant's "Touch and Pay" device. Furthermore, these offline AI touchpoints now support agent services across cultural and creative sectors, scenic areas, travel, healthcare, and more, all accessible with a single touch. By breaking the boundary between the physical world and AI Agents, this AI-enhanced "Touch and Pay" serves as a new, intuitive entry point for user interaction.

This milestone marks the latest achievement in "Touch and Pay"'s "three-year three jumps" strategy: the first year focused on optimizing payment convenience, the second year established it as a new offline service entrance, and the third year positions it as the new offline AI business gateway for merchants.

30 Million Offline Touchpoints' AI Leap, Merchant Agent "Xiaoyu" Launched

The Largest Offline AI Business Network Helps Merchants Enter the AI Business Era

Since Alipay introduced "Touch and Pay" in July 2024, it has deployed millions of smart devices and tens of millions of touchpoints for offline merchants over two years, creating the largest network of AI intelligent nodes on the merchant side to date.

Leveraging this intelligent network, Alipay launched "Xiaoyu," the industry's first merchant "Touch Device Agent." Xiaoyu integrates payment, membership management, marketing, delivery, and store traffic distribution services into this offline AI network.

Beyond core functions, "Xiaoyu" supports new Skills including Alipay subsidies, cashback rewards, government subsidies, special coupons, membership management, product marketing, Taobao flash sales, and Gaode street sweep rankings, helping merchants drive new growth in physical commerce.

"Xiaoyu" enables multi-terminal interaction across "Touch and Pay" devices, POS machines, and mobile phones. Merchants can interact with "Xiaoyu" through simple communication to complete the entire service chain, from store data analysis to business strategy upgrades. This allows stores to operate intelligently with AI assistance and minimal manual verification, effectively addressing long-standing challenges such as a lack of digital marketing touchpoints, weak data mining capabilities, and fragmented online-offline operations.

Additionally, this offline AI business network is open to all industry merchants, service providers, and developers. It offers SaaS lightweight integration, SaaS intelligent agents, and merchant business skill development components, promoting AI services beyond the digital realm to become a new productive force in commerce.

The Entry Ticket for Small and Medium-Sized Merchants to the AI Era: "Touch Everything Agent" Service

Quickly Enter the "AI Business Network"

Direct access to AI Agents via "Touch and Pay" has become the new standard. For instance, Hangzhou East Station introduced "Touch and Pay" to access the "Hangxiao Dong" intelligent agent, allowing users to check parking information and ride-hailing status. Similarly, the Shanghai Social Security Center has adopted "Touch and Pay" for government services, ushering in a "seamless touch" era.

Can small and medium-sized merchants without technical development capabilities quickly enter the "AI era"? Alipay's answer is the "Touch Everything Agent" service: simply state your needs, and the system handles the rest.

The "Touch Everything Agent" service integrates three core AI capabilities, effectively providing each small and medium-sized merchant with a professional team available at any time:

l AI Creative Designer: Generates visually appealing and conversion-optimized touch materials in seconds;

l AI Manufacturing Expert: Leverages a mature supply chain to intelligently recommend from over 300 material specifications, ensuring fast ordering and delivery;

l AI Touch Manager: Operates 24/7 online, responsible for data tracking, intelligent analysis, and revenue settlement.

The "Touch Everything Agent" service covers the entire chain with AI. Each "Touch and Pay" AI touchpoint becomes a merchant's agent entrance, directly reaching users and establishing exclusive agent services. Even the smallest merchants can enter the AI era with the lowest possible threshold.

"Touch and Pay" Industry Solutions and Native New Species Launch

Help Offline Scenarios Upgrade with AI

Alipay's offline AI business network continues to expand, covering various industries including catering, convenience stores, supermarkets, shopping malls, scenic spots, hotels, property management, transportation, refueling, charging, pickup, and exhibitions.

Partners such as Green Town, Amber, Fenjiu, Sinopec, 31 Meetings, Haier, and Penguin have successively launched "Touch and Pay" industry solutions under AI business scenarios, adding new momentum to industry development.

Since its launch two years ago, the user base of "Touch and Pay" has grown from zero to 400 million, making the "Touch and Pay" action a user-native interaction habit. This has further improved the offline service experience, leading to the emergence of many "Touch and Pay native new species."

Companies such as Cao Cao Charging, Tushan Chong, Shenzhou Zhaocai Bao, Sunwang Technology, Sandu Technology, Nuoxing Technology, and China Post have separately introduced new products based on "Touch and Pay" interactions, such as smart charging for ride-hailing, smart game warehouses, solar AI umbrellas, portable WiFi, and smart postcards.

Merchants and service providers are continuously exploring the deep integration of "Touch and Pay" with AI capabilities, turning every "touch" interaction into new growth for offline operations.

"Touch and Pay" Connects with "AI Payment"

Complete Offline and Online Business Cycle

With Alipay's AI payment transactions exceeding 300 million, AI transactions have become a new trend in merchant operations. Companies like Haier have successfully connected the transaction process from Alipay's "Touch and Pay" to "AI Payment": users "touch and pay" to activate the merchant's intelligent agent, which handles product introductions, package recommendations, inquiries, and orders, and finally completes authorization and payment through Alipay's "AI Payment." This process is simple, secure, and trustworthy throughout.

To address the core needs of merchants for AI marketing conversion growth, Alipay officially launched the AI Marketing Suite (AI Marketing Suite). Merchants can offer their own services based on these foundational capabilities, accurately meeting user pre-sales, rush purchase, and repurchase demands, effectively improving user conversion and retention rates in AI scenarios.

To reduce the AI development barriers for merchants, Alipay also launched a virtual resource supply platform. Developers only need to submit their development needs in AI programming to access cloud resources, APIs, and Skills in one stop, easily integrating into Alipay's AI payment capabilities and efficiently completing application development.