In Europe today, and across the world, millions of Chinese citizens and overseas-based Chinese use WeChat Pay as their primary payment method.
WeChat Pay has over 800 million users- which presents a huge opportunity to businesses.1 In Europe, the number of Chinese people living and studying in Europe doubled from 2009 to 2019.2 And these expats, immigrants, and students tend to be keen to spend money.3
Understanding the opportunity in Chinese consumer behavior
Chinese people are not used to paying with debit or credit cards at home and abroad alike.4 Equally, they rarely switch social media channels within the first years of living abroad, instead remaining loyal to the apps they know and trust - especially WeChat.
WeChat - the super-app which WeChat Pay is integrated into - is the most popular social media platform in China, used by almost three quarters of the country’s 1.4 billion people. Along with Alipay - another popular digital wallet in China - WeChat Pay is rapidly growing in Europe. In fact, in 2019 the average daily number of WeChat Pay cross-border payments grew 76% on the year before. In 2021, WeChat Pay was available in 13 different currencies in 25 countries.5
Therefore, offering WeChat Pay is one way for European companies to engage with this valuable demographic, accommodate their spending habits, and take full advantage of the purchasing power of Chinese customers living in or traveling to Europe.
How WeChat Pay works
Via WeChat Pay, users with a Chinese bank account can link their account with their WeChat profiles or add a credit or debit card, which enables them to make online and in-store payments. The payments work with QR codes that customers can scan via their phone from the WeChat app. The scan initiates a payment which the buyer can approve with a PIN, fingerprint, or face ID.
WeChat Pay is available for all MultiSafepay merchants. You can accept WeChat Pay on your website or via your mobile app. WeChat Pay is also easy to use for your customers. The payment flow works as follows:
- The customer selects WeChat pay at the checkout and is redirected to a MultiSafepay page with a QR code.
- The customers scans the QR code with their WeChat app to complete payment.
- MultiSafepay collects the funds and settles them in your MultiSafepay balance. Instant reconciliation – save time and improve accuracy and consistency.
Key benefits
Offering WeChat Pay offers a range of benefits for merchants and their customers alike. For merchants, you benefits from the following:
- No chargebacks
- Easy and seamless integration with MultiSafepay
- Custom clearance tool
- Full and partial refunds
- Split Payments feature
And just as importantly, you offer your customers an improved experience not only through offering them their trusted and preferred payment methods, which will increase your conversion at the checkout, improve customer happiness, and grow your sales.
Are you interested in WeChat Pay? Let’s talk
Our payments experts are happy to help you identify which payment methods will offer the most value for your business. Check out our technical documentation to read more about the integration, activation, and technical background of WeChat Pay, or contact us to find out more.
1 https://qpsoftware.net/blog/wechat-pay-uk-whats-future-wechat-payment-international
2 https://www.statista.com/statistics/632850/chinese-nationals-number-overseas-by-continent/
3 https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3012619/why-are-chinese-foreign-students-spending-their-parents
4 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leveraging-wechat-engaging-your-chinese-customers-echo-gao/
5 https://99firms.com/blog/wechat-statistics/#hamburger:~:text=Accounts.-,Over%20200M%20bank%20cards%20in%20China%20are%20linked%20to%20WeChat%20Pay.
