Count on using Asian payment methods to make the Year of the Rat profitable

Jordan Graison, Head of Sales at Limonetik, shares several tips on how merchants may cash in on the traditional Asian feast days

January 25, 2020 marked the beginning of the Year of the Rat. Celebrated by the entire Chinese population, the Lunar New Year is more than any other major Asian holiday – it’s a time for everyone to travel and visit their families. Many businesses are launching marketing campaigns to attract not only the 1.35 billion people in China, but the 50 million Chinese living abroad. The Chinese New Year represents a veritable "transhumance", as during the holiday season most of the Chinese population is on the move.

The CCI Nice Côte d'Azur (French Regional Chamber of commerce and industry) has used the WeChat Travel Experience to launch a campaign called "Welcome China" directed towards Chinese merchants and tourists. The concept is to capture consumers by offering a unique shopping experience via the WeChat payment method, which is geared to these hyper-connected users. When the 2017 Nielsen Report published that 91% of Chinese tourists said they would spend more if mobile payment was an option, regional merchants were prompted to adopt the WeChat Pay solution to offer payment by smartphone using a QR Code displayed at checkout time.

While e-retailers targeting Chinese and Asian customers are already offering the appropriate payment methods to ensure a seamless shopping experience in sync with everyone's cultural habits, physical stores have yet to adapt. And even though today's largest manufacturers of payment terminals have been gearing up to accept mobile solutions, there is still a long way to go before they can handle foreign payment methods.

Those who have made the full change include Natixis, Toshiba and Asten Retail. They are catering to Asian consumers by providing payment platforms like Alipay and WeChatPay. These payment solutions are now available in shops such as Louis Pion or CAP Sud in Nice, France, as well as in several airports and France's FNAC multimedia chain stores.

Welcoming Chinese shoppers in Mandarin or investing in Chinese-language advertising is no longer sufficient; restaurants, shops, ticket offices, all sectors are feeling the impact. These structures should be adapted because most Chinese tourists believe "a successful journey is a connected one". In a January 21 publication, Nielsen and Alipay report that international merchants are in a rush to implement mobile payment solutions with an aim to stimulate the flow of Chinese tourists into brick-and-mortar stores and boost sales. France may now be touted as the fifth favourite destination for Chinese visitors, but merchants will only benefit from this appeal by conforming to Chinese buying habits and providing the required payment methods.

The Lunar New Year feted until mid-February in many Asian countries, such as Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia – not least in the Middle Kingdom – is just one of the region’s major celebrations. Merchants still have time to prepare for traditional Labour Day (劳动节 láodòngjié) on May 1; the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节duānwǔjié, held on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, usually from May to June; the Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival (中秋节 zhōngqiūjié); Chinese National Day,(国庆节 guóqìngjié) on October 1; and Singles Day (光棍节) on November 11. In addition, sales prospects include more than 20 million students who travel during the summer holidays and the skyrocketing number of leisure travellers. In 2018, 6.5 million Chinese travelled abroad, a 7% increase compared to 2017.

So get ready now! Expand your range of payment methods and offer an omnichannel customer journey to your most connected customers.

About Jordan Graison

As a specialist in the global payment market, Jordan is responsible forthe development of Limonetik’s international sales. He started his career as a sales representative at AVIAREPS, after completing a degree in Korean studies at the Seoul National University in conjunction with the French National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations in Paris.

About Limonetik

Limonetik is a full-service payment aggregator that offers, via a unique API connection, acceptance of more than 180 international payment methods and advanced services – from collection and settlement management to reconciliation and account management – to enable new payment experiences (marketplaces, omnichannel model).