UK firm Powa Technologies formed a joint venture with China Unionpay to target Chinese retailers with a mobile payment service.

The partnership will integrate China Unionpay’s mobile payment and point of sale technology with the UK firm’s PowaTag product that enables users to pay for goods by scanning an image on their smartphones of codes placed within print, broadcast and out-of-home advertising.

Powa Technologies described its partnership with UnionPay Network Payments, a division of China Unionpay, as “a 10-year strategic alliance”.

The partners hope their product will prove popular with Chinese retailers wanting to capture a share of China’s online to offline market. The two companies are working on a co-branded version of the UK firm’s app called PowaTag Unionpay. It will be available for both iOS and Android devices.

The joint venture will first launch in Guangdong Province to give the region’s 106 million population the ability to transact with 400,000 merchants, before expanding to all 6 million merchants across the country.