Photo provided by German department store retailer Breuninger shows a customer using Alibaba's Alipay at Breuninger store in Dusseldorf, Germany, June 29, 2018. Breuninger on Friday announced to introduce two Chinese mobile payment platforms -- Alibaba's Alipay and Tencent's Wechat Pay. (Xinhua/Breuninger)

DUSSELDORF, Germany, June 29 (Xinhua) -- German department store retailer Breuninger on Friday announced to introduce two Chinese mobile payment platforms -- Alibaba's Alipay and Tencent's Wechat Pay.

This makes Breuninger the first German department store to offer the two leading digital Chinese payment options in all its eleven stores, the company said in a statement.

Last year, 12.4 million tourists from East Asia visited Europe on their travels. This will rise to 20.8 million by 2022, according to the company's statement.

By accepting Alipay and WeChat Pay, Breuninger hopes to attract more Chinese customers -- the young, online-savvy, affluent target group.

"The integration of Alipay and WeChat Pay at all Breuninger stores is a logical step in the direction of further improving the shopping experience," said Breuninger CEO Holger Blecker.

"Alipay and WeChat Pay have proven to be popular entry points for companies looking to implement precisely these kinds of digitalization processes over the past few years," said Markus Braun, CEO of Wirecard AG, one of the world's fastest growing digital platforms in the area of financial commerce.

Breuninger was founded in 1881 and is today among the leading department stores in Europe. The company operates 11 stores with over 5,500 employees across Germany.