Source: Wechat pay.com
A Brief Introduction to WeChat Pay
WeChat Pay is an in-app payment feature that allows all WeChat users to pay for transactions quickly on their mobile phones. It’s fully optimised for online and offline businesses and it is expected to offer more opportunities in the near future. WeChat Pay can be used in 49 countries and regions around the world, and supports 16 currencies such as pound sterling, Hong Kong dollar, US dollar, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, euro, New Zealand dollar, South Korean won, etc.
In this article, we’ll mainly discuss WeChat Pay for mainland China, specifically for vendors based in mainland China who sell to mainland Chinese customers.
Understanding the payment habits of Chinese consumers and WeChat Pay is important for brands looking to enter the Chinese market. With the acceleration of digital transformation and changes in consumer habits, mobile payment has gradually become the mainstream payment mode in Chinese society.
According to the People’s Bank of China, China’s mobile payment transaction volume reached 556 trillion yuan last year and is expected to reach 715.34 trillion yuan in 2022. WeChat has nearly 1.3 billion monthly active users, making it the second largest mobile payment giant after Alipay, and WeChat Pay accounts for 39.53% of China’s mobile payment market share. Clearly, WeChat Pay has more user groups and greater frequency of use than other mobile payment systems.
Ways to use WeChat Pay
1. Payment Code Payment
Payment via QRcode involves the user displaying a “payment code” in the WeChat wallet to be scanned by the merchant system which automatically completes the transaction. It is suitable for offline cashier scenarios such as supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, hospitals, schools, cinemas, and tourism. Scenic spots and other physical locations with distinct business addresses.
For example, when users make offline purchases, they can show the payment code (a bar code and a QR code) in their WeChat Wallet for vendors to scan. The payment will be processed automatically. Quick Pay is suitable for offline vendors such as supermarkets and convenience stores where payments are performed face to face with customers.
Below is an example of Quick Pay procedure (purchasing in a supermarket or convenience store):
How to activate the payment code function:
Merchants can enable this feature by default by selecting the offline merchant system when making a WeChat payment. For other merchants, if needed, they can apply for it via the merchant platform – product centre – payment code- and apply for activation.
This function is only available for service accounts, corporate accounts and government/media subscription accounts
2. WeChat Mini-program Payment
Small program payment means that the merchant realises the payment function in the WeChat applet platform by calling the WeChat Pay applet payment interface; the user opens the merchant assistant applet to place an order, enters the payment password, completes the payment, and then returns to the merchant applet.
For example, if a user is shopping on an external e-commerce platform app on a mobile device, they can choose to pay via WeChat on the payment page.
The activation method for merchants is that when they settle in, the system activates this function by default. After settling in, additional merchants can proceed to Merchant Platform-Product Center-Mini Program Payment-Apply for activation. It is worth noting that the WeChat red envelope function can be used for free in the applet.
Here is an example of using WeChat Pay in a merchant applet:
This function is only available for service accounts, corporate accounts and government/media subscription accounts.