Cash is dead as small businesses opt for e-payment in China’s digitalisation drive
China’s US$5t e-payment market accounts for 42 per cent of the world’s e-commerce transactions
Cash, alas, is no longer king as operators of mainland China’s small businesses will tell you.
In major Chinese cities, paying by paper money is all but dead thanks to the convenience of mobile payment, which has now surged to US$5 trillion in the mainland.
Ask Lin Nianbao, owner of Ruyi Restaurant that sells noodles, dumplings and rice dishes on Shanghai’s Lancun Road. Lin is now a firm supporter of the country’s rapid pace of digitalisation, where e-payment and online food delivery services have helped his business grow and thrive.
“Cash is no longer needed in running the restaurant,” he said. “It is a fast-changing business world as mobile phones begin to dominate people’s life.”
Until 2015, Ruyi used to collect cash from all its customers, but e-payments through WeChat Pay and Alipay now account for more than 70 per cent of its total transactions, or about 10,000 yuan (US$1,515) a day.
“This is a typical disruptive technology,” Lin said. “It forces us to learn how to better use the apps to develop our businesses.”