WeChat Pay has already expanded to Indonesia, Singapore & Thailand, and Japan will be the next destination. Chinese internet giant Tencent is partnering with Hotto Link, Japanese social data provider to expand WeChat Pay service to Japanese market. It is estimated that 10,000 stores in Japan will be connected to WeChat Pay by the end of the year.

The mobile payment service allows Japanese businesses to promote their products and service and offer discounts via Hotto Link’s page on WeChat. To get started, stores need to download an app on a tablet, which allows them to scan QR codes from customers’ smartphone screens. China Construction Bank handles clearing the transactions.

WeChat MAUs break 700 Million

Why Japan for WeChat Pay?

The program could be popular because Chinese tourists frequently visit and spend high amounts of money in Japan. Tencent hopes to attract Japanese retailers by offering them incentives, like advertising and customer discounts through Hotto Link on WeChat, or easier acceptance on Chinese eCommerce sites.

WeChat Pay, which is linked to China’s most popular WeChat messaging app, is used by more than 300 million users in China to pay for everything from taxi fares to convenience store purchases to utility bills. The payment service also works on China’s second-largest eCommerce platform, JD.com, in which Tencent has a 15 per cent stake. It is accepted at more than 300,000 stores in mainland.

More about WeChat Pay:

WeChat Pay FAQs: Everything You Need to Know

Cross Border eCommerce: 3 Things You Can Expect after Adopting WeChat Pay

5 places Where WeChat Payment is Mostly Used in China