How to Setup WeChat Payment?

In today’s world, many people work away from home and lives in different countries. And also, more and more people dealing with businesses from all over the globe. Online money transfer is the one which is most often preferred by almost all people. The advancement in technology has made online transfers quickly, i.e. within a few seconds. Nowadays, the messaging apps like WhatsApp and WeChat are inbuilt with the payment options to make cash transfer between the sender and receiver easier and also reduces fraudulent activities. In this article, we are going to discuss how to setup WeChat Payment using the WeChat app.

Read More: Why is WeChat Popular in China

What is WeChat?

WeChat, the most commonly and popularly used social media platform in China and it has been used as one of the topmost messaging apps among people to communicate with each other in China. In addition to communication, WeChat has been used in all your daily activities such as ordering a taxi, renting a bike, getting movie tickets, topping up your mobile phone account, sending money to friends…and paying for purchases.  To do all of this, you need to know how to set up your WeChat wallet and connect it to your bank account.

Key Statistics for WeChat

The traffic on WeChat is immense:

• 846 million monthly active users
• 570 million daily active users
• Valuation: $83.6 billion
• 10+ million official accounts opened for businesses
• The average WeChat user reads 7 articles (equivalent to 1 novel) per day on WeChat
• WeChat accounts for 35% of all time spent on mobile in China
• 31% of WeChat users make e-commerce purchases through WeChat. Up from 15% in the previous year.
• Estimated monthly payment transactions per WeChat user is 53. In comparison, the estimated number for American Debit and Credit Card holders is 24 and 10 respectively
• 36% of users open WeChat for more than 30 times per day

What is WeChat Pay?

WeChat pay is a payment solution completely integrated inside the social and messaging application of Tencent: WeChat. It appears in the “WeChat Wallet” section of the application.

Read More: WeChat for Business

Through wallet option and integrated application of WeChat, you can now perform a wide variety of transactions using WeChat such as:-

• Transferring money to friends (especially as “red envelopes” shared during Chinese festivals)
• Performing transactions on e-commerce websites
• Topping up their mobile
• Investment in wealth management funds
• Paying for water and electricity bills
• Order and pay for a cab
• Purchase a train or flight ticket
• Book a night in a hotel
• Purchase movie tickets
• And much more!

How Do Foreigners Create WeChat Pay Account

Living in China without WeChat Pay is like living without cash or credit card.  Here is how the foreigner can open a WeChat Pay Account?

Requirements to Create WeChat Pay Account

• WeChat account
• Passport
• A Chinese bank card
• A phone that linked with your bank card

1: Find the WeChat Wallet Card

Go to your WeChat account and click on Me/Wallet/Cards. This will take you to a section to add a Chinese bank card.

If you don’t see Wallet in your WeChat account, it is because you downloaded the international version of WeChat! You can now check the version you’re using by clicking Setting/General/Language to change the WeChat language to Chinese. This will activate your WeChat Wallet. You can then change your language back to English and WeChat Wallet in stays in Chinese.

2: Add a Bank Card

You can add a credit or debit card to link with your WeChat Wallet. You will need a Chinese bank card.

3: That’s done!

Now you have successfully linked your bank card with WeChat!

How Do I Change the Bank That’s Linked with the WeChat Wallet?

If you want to change the bank that’s linked with the WeChat wallet, follow the below steps:-

• You can go to Wallet/Card to delete the previous card
• In the add a card page, click on the green information sign to change your name
• Before you click on change names, make sure your WeChat Wallet has 0 balance
• Make sure your WeChat Pay account is not linked with a third party company for automatic payment (such as Uber, Didi).
• If you see an error message and is not sure what it means, it could possibly be the WeChat mess up the English translation. In the case, you should switch the language back to Chinese and see that it says.
• Then you can proceed to the adding a bank card section (see section above)

How to Add Money to WeChat Pay as a Foreigner

Open a Chinese Bank Account

The easiest way to add money to WeChat Pay is to connect it to a Chinese bank account. Foreigners are legally allowed to open an account and it usually only takes 1-2 hours to get it done. They’ll issue you a bank card immediately and you can add that card to WeChat.

Have Friends Send You Money

If you have friends in China, you can have them send you money via WeChat and then pay back some other way. Within the WeChat personal chat window, friends can send you cash that will be kept in your WeChat wallet to be used for payments.

Peer-to-Peer Exchange

Of course, since many travelers don’t have friends in China to send them money, you’ll need to find another way to get money onto WeChat. That’s where something like a peer-to-peer exchange service can help. These services connect you with somebody who wants US dollars so that you pay them $100 via Paypal or bank transfer. They, in turn, pay you the equivalent RMB to your WeChat account.

What is WeChat Pay For Company?

Personal WeChat payment for personal purpose is only used for peer-to-peer transactions. It cannot be connected with a company.

Company WeChat Pay account will settle the payment in a company’s bank account. The most common way you can use a company’s payment account is to connect it with your website, Apps or your WeChat shop.

Read More: WeChat Marketing Strategies

How to Use WeChat Pay?

Follow the 4 settings to use Company WeChat Pay

In-App Web-Based Payment

This is the most common way to use WeChat payment. You can embed it into your WeChat shop. When users make a payment, they will just need to enter 6-digit pin code or scan of the fingerprint.

QR Code Payment

QR code payment is usually used when your customers are shopping on a desktop website. The QR code will be automatically generated by the WeChat payment system. You customers just need to scan the QR code with WeChat or Alipay to make the payment.

In-App Payment

You can integrate WeChat Pay or Alipay on your Apps. Having this popular payment option available to your users will increase the conversion on your Apps.

Quick Pay

WeChat Quick Pay is the most common way to accept payment in a physical store. The WeChat payment solution can be connected with your POS system. This way you can scan the WeChat payment QR code of the use. It’s a much faster payment solution than cash or credit card. In this case, users don’t even need to enter the 6-digital pin code to approve the payment.

How to Apply for Company WeChat Pay?

• You already have a company in mainland China
• Create a WeChat cross-border payment account that connects with your overseas bank account

If you don’t have a company registered anywhere, then you won’t be eligible.

Details You Need to Create and Verify Your WeChat Account

• Company registration number
• A scanned of your business license, with company stamp
• Account operator name (must be a Chinese national with a WeChat Payment account)
• Account operator’s phone number:- operator’s ID number and ID type
• Official Account name (can only contain Chinese characters, numbers, letters with no space)
• Official Account short description
• WeChat Official account ID (users can use this id to search for the account, the ID can’t contain spaces)
• Last three months of telephone bill of the account operator
• Front and back photocopy of the account operator’s photo ID
• Office landline phone number
• Company banking account
• Bank name
• Bank address

When you apply for Company WeChat Pay, make sure to choose Pick Service Account, as the type of account.

Once your official account is scanned and verified, you will be able to apply to WeChat Payment using the menu on the left-hand side of the account.

Importance of WeChat Payment for Your Business

WeChat’s payment app, allows wechat users to pay for anything they want from flight or train bookings to online transactions. It works just like any other digital wallet but it has two advantages:

• Impeccably integrates with thousands of WeChat’s internal apps
• Consumers can use it to pay for anything through in-app purchases, using tap-and-go, or by simply snapping a picture with their camera

This user-friendliness has driven millions of people to WeChat in China – 600 million, to be precise! That’s 150 million more users than Alipay, which was the market leader until as recently as 2017.

WeChat has successfully managed to turn the game by weaving its functionalities into users’ daily lives and giving brands and services a chance to be seen at the right place. These elements, tied together by a seamless payments system have made WeChat self-contained in the true sense.

The Future of WeChat Payment App

Consumers and business owners from big markets such as the United States and Europe are wholeheartedly accepting WeChat application as eCommerce or mobile payment platforms. WeChat has been widely and successfully used in China and it has been accepted by nearly 24 million Americans are poised to use WeChat by 2020, a new trend could well be on the horizon.

Closer home in Australia, the growing demand from Chinese tourists has led several businesses to consider WeChat as a new channel for business. With Chinese tourists expected to spend AU$13 billion in Australia by 2020, this is an opportunity too big to ignore. But it’s not limited to tourism. A number of Australians are using WeChat to stay in touch with family and friends too.

The biggest challenge the WeChat is facing is, it cannot yet be linked to banks outside of China and some neighboring countries (like Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), so WeChat’s global expansion is still heavily dependent on Chinese consumers abroad.

Platforms such as WeChat are a small but vital part of the exciting payment trends that will soon result in channel convergence, creating a strong need to offer your customers a single experience across online, in-store, mobile, and in offline services.

Why Are Mobile Payments So Popular in China?

Mobile Payment is incredibly popular in China! Here are few of the reasons:-

Reason 1:-

One of the main reasons why mobile payments are popular in China is that they are promoted by the strongest digital players in China. Alipay belongs to Alibaba Group and is the main payment method on Tmall and Taobao – the two biggest e-commerce platforms in China. Meanwhile, WeChat Pay, a part of Tencent, also proves its popularity thanks to the almost 1 billion users of WeChat in China.

Reason 2:-

China is also a mobile-first market, a fact that greatly contributes to the success of mobile payments. According to Statista, there were more than 626 million smartphone users in China in 2016. By 2019, this figure is forecast to total nearly 690 million and continue to expand in the future. This significant increase in smartphone usage is due to the fact that smartphones are becoming more and more affordable to Chinese customers. With an average Android smartphone, customers can access WeChat and enjoy a variety of services.

Reason 3:-

Traveling in China is now super easy as all types of transports from Taxi/Didi to trains and planes have accepted mobile payments. Overall, any Chinese person is comfortable with a totally cashless life. When adoption rates started skyrocketing, more and more business was compelled to accept digital payments, which leads to even more consumers embracing this revolution, creating a virtuous circle.

Conclusion

In the mobile era where more than half of Chinese own a smartphone, mobile payment is an extremely convenient method to make the daily transaction.

Stay tuned with BulkQ to know more about WeChat Marketing!