Tencent Holdings is working to roll out its mobile payment service at 10,000 Japanese stores by the end of 2016 to give travellers from its home market of China a convenient way to pay for purchases.
Chinese constitute a quarter of all visitors to Japan, spending vastly more than other groups. Chinese visitors plunked down JPY1.41 trillion (USD 13.2 billion) here to account for 40% of consumption by foreigners in 2015. Chinese per-person spending also topped 280,000 JPY, against the 176,167 JPY overall average.
The company plans to start attracting retailers by adopting WeChat Pay, linked to the popular WeChat messaging app. The plan is to have 20,000 stores in Japan accept WeChat Pay as soon as possible, according to asia.nikkei.com.
Stores need to 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.
Tencent has already expanded the eWallet 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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