Tencent Holdings is working to roll out its mobile payment service at Japanese stores to give Chinese travelers a convenient way to purchases.
More Chinese visitors to Japan will be able to use QR codes to make
purchases, just as they do back home.
Tencent Holdings is working to roll out its mobile payment service at 10,000 Japanese stores by the end of 2016 to give travelers from its home market of China a convenient way to pay for purchases.
WeChat Pay, linked to the popular WeChat messaging app, lets its more than 300 million users pay via smartphone at 300,000-plus locations in China. Only a few Japanese stores have adopted it so far. But now, Tencent plans to start wooing retailers in earnest with Japanese social data provider Hotto Link.
Stores need only download an app to iPads or other tablet devices to scan QR codes from customers' smartphone screens. China Construction Bank will be responsible for clearing cross-currency transactions.
Chinese constitute a quarter of all visitors to Japan, spending vastly more than other groups. Chinese visitors plunked down 1.41 trillion yen ($13.2 billion) here to account for 40% of consumption by foreigners in 2015. Chinese per-person spending also topped 280,000 yen, against the 176,167 yen overall average.
The plan is to have 20,000 stores in Japan accept WeChat Pay as soon as possible, a representative said. Tencent hopes to catch up to China UnionPay cards, a popular payment method among Chinese tourists in Japan.
Younger Chinese handle a wide array of expenses with WeChat Pay, including taxi rides, convenience store purchases and utility bills. The service also works with China's second-largest e-commerce platform, JD.com, in which Tencent has a stake. It is now widely accepted both online and in physical stores.
Tencent has already expanded the e-wallet service into Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore as more Chinese travel overseas for business and leisure. It expects even greater demand in Japan, a popular shopping destination.
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