The brilliant next step in paying for things in Asia
Once Apple Pay was the way to go but now messaging apps are emerging as the payment method of choice for both consumers and retailers
When Apple first rolled out Apple Pay in 2014, it was billed as a simpler way to buy goods and services. You take your phone out, hold it up to the credit card reader, and off you go. Seems convenient, right?
But some consumers in Asia think there’s an even better way to pay.
In recent years, millions of people have grown accustomed to using messaging apps to communicate. Some of these apps now support person-to-person digital cash transfers.
So the next step is pretty logical: Asian retailers have begun using these same messaging platforms to sell everything from clothes to hamburgers to train tickets. And as a consumer, you never have to leave the app to pay.
On the surface, this alternative sounds a lot like Apple Pay (or Samsung Pay or Android Pay). But conducting real-life and online transactions through messaging apps stands to change retail like none of these other services.
What we’re seeing in Asia is the rise of mobile payments that run primarily on software, not hardware as in the US. And that distinction may be the key to everything from accelerating the spread of mobile payments to unlocking deep, digital interactions with customers in bricks-and-mortar stores to moving e-commerce away from giant online businesses like Amazon.