Commerce technology firm Powa Technologies has signed a 10 year strategic alliance with UnionPay, Chinas state-owned payments company and the only credit card issuer in the country, to drive mobile engagement and bring mobile payments to the market.

The company has formed a local joint venture with UnionPay Network Payments, aimed at pushing aggressively into Chinas mCommerce market and giving it access to the 1.3bn credit and debit card users in China.

The partnership will integrate UnionPays mobile payment and point-of-sale solution with Powas established mCommerce platform PowaTag. Chinas huge online-to-offline (O2O) market is estimated to be worth ¥304.94bn (£31.4bn), and is growing at approximately 80 per cent annually.

The PowaTag solution is already used by over 1,200 brands and retailers worldwide, and has focused on transforming any form of consumer engagement, from advertising and social media to free samples and products themselves, into a way for customers to instantly transact via their smartphones.

“PowaTag is an incredible channel to facilitate and simplify commerce for consumers and improve business for merchants,” said Dan Wagner, chairman, CEO and founder of Powa Technologies. “This partnership with UnionPay Network Payment will allow PowaTag to take a leading position in the mobile commerce and O2O market in China. The country already has the largest eCommerce market in the world, and we will play a key role in enabling millions of retailers to capture a market that is hungry for innovative new digital solutions.”

The joint venture will initially roll out in Guangdong Province, where it will give the population of 106m consumers the ability to transact with over 400,000 merchants. By the end of 2016, the joint venture plans to have expanded to the whole of the China, connecting 1m merchants.

“With this alliance, PowaTag will further extend its presence and strength in Asia Pacific, the fastest growing region in the world for mobile adoption, eCommerce and retail in general,” said Alessandro Gadotti, CEO of Asia Pacific for Powa Technologies. “Being a leader in such a challenging and fast growing region is proof that PowaTags technology is a breakthrough innovation in the commerce and retail space.”