From now on, Weixin Pay, a version of WeChat Pay, is available not only for online payments powered by Stripe but also for in-person shopping via Stripe Terminal in 20 countries.
One of the leading global fintech companies, Stripe, has announced an enhancement to its global partnership with Tencent, the Chinese technology company behind the popular payment solution Weixin Pay (also known as WeChat Pay).
This expansion makes Weixin Pay available on Stripe Terminal in 20 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Businesses operating in these locations and powered by Stripe can now also enrich the variability of available payment methods for in-store purchases, along with their online counterparts.
Stripe Terminal is a point-of-sale (POS) solution offered by Stripe. It includes proprietary hard- and software created by the company. The new feature is supported by the latest Stripe hardware, including the Stripe Reader S700.
The partnership between Stripe and Tencent began in 2017. For almost eight years, businesses using Stripe could accept payments from Chinese consumers through their websites and mobile apps, leveraging the most popular digital payment method in China – Weixin Pay (WeChat Pay). For offline payments, this option was off limits.
However, today, as the growing number of Chinese tourists and travellers are shopping internationally, especially during peak seasons, local merchants can seamlessly accept payments in CNY and receive settlements in local currencies.
The two partners believe such an addition is creating a more complete “unified commerce” experience. Namely, using unified data from both online and in-person payments, Stripe Terminal can provide businesses with a clear overview and well-rounded picture of their transactions, shopping habits and needs, helping merchants and service providers improve customer experiences and increase revenue.
According to Stripe, many of its users have doubled their revenue from Chinese customers by adding Weixin Pay as a payment option. The reason is that Weixin Pay serves not only consumers in mainland China but also over 50 million Chinese nationals and expats living, working, or studying abroad. With the addition of in-person Weixin payments integrated within the Stripe infrastructure, merchants’ revenue growth is expected to continue and scale up.
Tencent’s Weixin app has over 1.3 billion monthly active users. It allows customers to shop, transfer money, book travel, access education services, and more. The app and linked digital wallet also enable businesses to connect with users through engagement features such as Official Accounts, Channels, Moments, and Mini Programs. Merchants can significantly benefit from Weixin Pay’s Global Gift Pack Mini Program, which helps brands increase visibility within the Weixin ecosystem, reaching new consumer segments.
Upon the rollout, Stripe already harbours new expansion plans for Weixin Pay to reach more countries and feature recurring payment options for eligible merchants.
Earlier, another prominent fintech firm, PayPal, enabled Weixin Pay users to receive money directly into their Weixin Pay Wallet Balance or linked bank accounts through its money transfer service, Xoom.
