WeChat Pay was everywhere in China. We noticed its ubiquity after arriving in Hong Kong, where mom and pop stores, as well as big retailers, accepted WeChat Pay. However, the dominance of WeChat Pay became clear after we arrived on the mainland. Taxis, golf courses, liquor stores and micro businesses all accepted WeChat Pay.
At one point our driver extended us credit on WeChat Pay by paying for our bills that day on his WeChat Pay in return for cash. He got a better transaction history and said this would be helpful. I’m not sure if that’s a mental model he’s developed or if it’s true, but the fact is he was happy to pay for our goods on his app in return for the same amount in cash later that day. I imagine it has something to do with the social aspect of WeChat pay, but I’d like to know more.
The payments app itself worked off QR codes. There were three ways a user could input a transaction:
- A merchant would have a QR code displayed at their store and a user could open WeChat pay’s camera, scan the code, and a prompt would display a keyboard to enter the amount. The user then inputs their pin and the transaction completes.
- A merchant would pull up a QR on their phone, the user would scan it and the amount the merchant charged would be pre-filled. The user would then input their pin to complete the transaction.
- The user would enter the amount they owe and pop up a QR code on their phone. The merchant would scan the user’s QR code and the amount would be pulled from the user’s account and the transaction completed.
So the app supports both push and pull in seamless user experiences. The number of steps was always kept to the minimum, and each step had a clear job to complete. Additionally, hardware is popping up to support WeChat Pay. I saw QR scanners to support the third method above at several merchants. They were plugged into whatever accounting system the merchant ran on their computer.
I’ve embedded a video below to show you a couple of ways to pay. I thought WeChat Pay was super cool. The fact it’s leapfrogged credit cards completely is remarkable, and it’s prevalence and penetration was far higher than I imagined. Congrats to the company for pushing the boundaries of payments at such scale!