Is your store ready for digital-first tourists?

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In front of Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Miss Wang stopped and checked her phone, as if she needed to confirm that she had reached the right destination. A few seconds later, she walked into the store with confidence and showed the staff a picture of the wool shirt she already planned to buy while surfing online. After the fitting, she completed the transaction with Alipay.

Long before her visit, she had learned about the store’s signature product through social media and had seen other tourists share their shopping experiences online. She had also confirmed that the store accepted Alipay beforehand. For her, the ability to pay with her preferred familiar payment method almost equaled a signal that the store “welcomed” her.

This article introduces the "Digital-First Tourists" and analyzes the specific consumer behaviors of this group. We will then explain how to rapidly reach this high-value segment through Silkpay’s payment solutions.

Who are the digital-first tourists?

Digital-first tourists mainly come from China, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. Their consumer profile shows several clear characteristics:

A strong preference for cashless payments:

Digital-first Asian travelers rely on QR-based wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay, and UnionPay, which have largely replaced cash and physical cards. Payments are fast, familiar, and habitual, making transactions feel like a natural extension of their daily digital behavior. Whether ordering food, booking travel, or shopping, purchases are typically completed on their phones.

Consumer decision path driven by local social media:

Digital-first Asian travelers often rely on social media for store recommendations before their trip, and this content plays a decisive role in where they choose to shop. Importantly, influence does not stop at the point of purchase. Post-purchase sharing on platforms such as Xiaohongshu feeds back into the discovery phase for future travelers.

For example, a vintage boutique in Paris’s Marais district began attracting large numbers of Chinese customers after a spontaneous post by a Chinese tourist on Xiaohongshu. As visibility grew, the store opened its own Xiaohongshu account and was subsequently featured on multiple “must-buy” lists.

Mastercard’s Asia-Pacific cross-border consumer trends report 2026 shows that 83% of Asian outbound tourists prioritize checking whether overseas merchants support their preferred mobile wallets before making a purchase decision. 

Among them, Chinese travelers favor WeChat Pay and Alipay, South Korean consumers rely on Kakao Pay, Naver Pay or Toss, while travelers from Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand increasingly use GrabPay.

For European retailers, this insight carries a clear implication: an outdated payment solution no longer meets market expectations and causes missed opportunities. 

The ability to support a diverse range of Asian digital wallets directly determines whether a merchant can access a market that generates over €320 billion in annual outbound spending.

How do digital-first tourists influence the European retail landscape?

Digital payment capability defines retail attractiveness

Major Western European cities such as Paris, Milano, Rome, and Barcelona have built strong appeal among Asian tourists due to their early adoption of Asian digital payment solutions.

In contrast, many other regions of Europe, despite rich cultural assets and more competitive pricing, remain outside many travelers’ preferred routes because of less developed payment infrastructure. Many tourists express concern about the inability to use familiar payment methods and how this impacts their destination choice for tourism.

This insight sends a clear message to retailers: even the most distinctive services or locations struggle to attract high value digital-first tourists without robust digital payment support. 

Payment capability no longer functions as a backend operational detail; it shapes whether a merchant enters the decision set of this high-spending customer segment.

Digital payment methods increase average order value and purchase frequency

For digital-first tourists, payment methods shape purchasing behavior well before the checkout moment. When retailers support familiar Asian payment options, purchase decisions feel easier and less constrained.

In real retail scenarios, familiar digital payments reduce price sensitivity and encourage acceptance of higher-value items, which leads to higher average order values. 

At the same time, the absence of cash handling or card-related friction supports more frequent, low-value, impulse purchases such as accessories, souvenirs, or product upgrades.

Why is Silkpay the ideal partner for engaging digital-first tourists?

As the market evolves at speed, European retailers need a payment partner with strong technical expertise and a deep understanding of Asian consumer behavior. 

Silkpay provides tailored solutions for merchants that aim to attract and serve Asian tourists, with options designed to fit different retail scenarios and business needs.

PAX A920Pro:

An integrated smart payment terminal that supports all major international payment methods, including Alipay+ and more than 30 Asian digital wallets. It suits retail environments with higher average order values or strict requirements for transaction stability.

SoftPOS:

No additional hardware required. A NFC-enabled smartphone functions as a payment terminal and accepts Visa/Mastercard payments. This solution works well for pop-up stores, small boutique retailers, and mobile sales scenarios.

Silkpay app:

A mobile application that merchants can download directly on their smartphones. It accepts Alipay+, WeChat Pay, and UnionPay QR payments, which enables merchants to connect with the Asian digital payment ecosystem without changing their existing checkout systems.

Pay by Link:

A solution for remote payment. Merchants can create secure payment links through the POS terminal, the Silkpay App, or the Silkpay back office and send them to customers for remote transactions.

Multilingual support:

A dedicated professional team remains available around the clock to assist with payment related issues in French, Chinese, English, Italian. 

​​Competitive and transparent pricing:

Silkpay offers customized pricing based on each merchant’s business model. Fees remain transparent, with no hidden costs.

Conclusion:

Digitally-first travelers are not a passing trend, but a structural shift emerging at the intersection of globalization and digitalization. For European retailers, this represents an upgrade in market entry requirements. To serve digitally-first travelers has shifted from being an advantage to a matter of survival, the first step is to ensure that payment itself is no longer a barrier, because for these travelers, a smooth experience conveys respect and understanding.

About the author: Silkpay

Based in Paris, Silkpay provides omnichannel and secure payment solutions to help physical stores and e-commerce in Europe and the Americas accept more than 30 of the world's most popular payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, CB, UnionPay, Alipay+, WeChat Pay as well as Asia-Pacific’s major e-wallets.

Silkpay is a winner of the LVMH Innovation Award. The company was also selected as a finalist for the "Money 20/20" Best Startup and in the "MPE Berlin” Startup Awards. Silkpay also won the "Best Fintech" awards from Capgemini and BPCE.

Silkpay helps merchants deliver the smoothest payment experience to their customers. We are a talented and international team driven by a single goal: to improve the customer experience and make payments simple and secure.