WeChat Pay users can as of now make payments without internet

WeChat Pay is the Chinese star app with 1 billion active users (1). It is used to make all payments in China. Via WeChat Pay, Chinese people can pay for their meals in restaurants, for e-commerce purchases, for transportation, or even for daily purchases at a street food cart.

In China, the number of stores accepting WeChat Pay had already reached 40 million in 2018 (2).

"However, until now WeChat Pay did not offer its users the ability to make payments without internet connection. During a flight, for example, Chinese travellers could not use mobile payment. But as of now they can”

Like most mobile payment methods, payments via WeChat Pay is done through the scan of a QR code. Two methods are possible, the first option is for the customer to scan the QR code of the merchant, the second, on the other hand, is that the merchant scans the QR code of the customer on his WeChat Pay application. The QR code can be generated without internet connection, however, an internet connection is required in order to scan the code. In other words, either the merchant or the customer must have an internet connection for the transaction to be completed. As a result, Chinese users of the giant app could not use mobile payment during flights. WeChat Pay, aware of this shortcoming, has continued to develop its services in order to offer the best experience to its users.

WeChat Pay tested its new service in July 2019, a service that allows users to make payments even without internet. The mobile payment giant conducted the test in partnership with Spring Airlines during flights between Chengdu and Shanghai. Passengers had been asked to register for the offline service test before boarding. Thus, during flights, Chinese tourists were able to use their preferred payment method to make all their purchases on board: souvenirs, drinks, meals, gifts, perfumes…., all of this without internet connection. The test lasted for 4 days and was successfully completed.

When using this payment service, the invoice is registered on WeChat Pay until landing. Once the user's smartphone is reconnected to internet, the transaction’s amount is automatically deducted from the user's account.

“For now, this service is limited to one airline only, however, WeChat Pay has announced its future plans to expand its new service to other flights and even to other airlines”

Soon, other airlines will be able to allow their passengers to make payments without internet during flights and increase their turnover from Chinese tourists on board, including those from purchases of Duty Free products, Chinese customers are the biggest buyers of this brand's products. In 2018, the Duty Free China market generated revenues of around 5.3 billion euros (3), an increase of 27.3% over last year. Wealthy Chinese people also make sure that all luxury products they buy are original, and this impacts their choice of destination. In addition, according to the report published by McKinsey and Company, China's wealthiest people travel abroad an average of 5.9 times a year (4).

Europe, specifically France, has a great advantage as it represents the home of Chinese tourists’ most preferred luxury brands. France welcomes 2 million Chinese tourists every year. Integrating the Chinese clients’ preferred payment methods, WeChat Pay and Alipay, will facilitate their purchases during their trip. Airlines now will be able to offer shopping experiences to Chinese passengers even during the flights.

However, this service remains a privilege reserved for users with at least 550 points on their Wechat social credit system (5). This social rating system is not to be confused with that of the Chinese government, but those of Alipay’s and WeChat Pay. The score is determined on the basis of personal data (degrees obtained, professional email address, proof of ownership); purchasing behavior on applications like Alipay or WeChat Pay (regular, occasional purchases...), and financial behavior (if the user pays his bills on time...). The two mobile payment giants therefore classify users on the basis of the score calculated from the user data. On one hand, the higher the score, the more additional benefits the user will receive. On the other hand, this score can be easily achieved by the majority of users.