Integration of VAT refund and mobile payment

The new eBook Chinese Outbound Tourism 2017-2019 Week by Week – The 100 Best Editorials of COTRI WEEKLY brings together the 100 best editorials of the years 2017-2019. Today, let’s have a look at the editorial of June 2018 dealing with the rapid development of mobile payment methods in China, being even more convenient today.

Two years ago, the COTRI Weekly Editorial dealt with the trend of mobile payment. China has been innovative when it comes to payments for a long time, notably by introducing the idea of paper money as early as the 7th Century, something that didn’t catch on in Europe until a thousand years later.

The banknotes would even carry a message encouraging ordinary people to report those suspected of manufacturing fake currency to the authorities and receive a reward for it.

As an example of leapfrogging, China went from cash (even this English word is Chinese in origin) directly to mobile payment via smartphones, basically leaving out the phases of traveller cheques or internationally valid credit cards.

In the past, not being sure if Chinese UnionPay cards would be accepted, many Chinese travellers would carry large amounts of foreign currency, turning them into popular targets for pickpockets overseas. The Chinese government issued travel warnings several times for Paris after Chinese visitors had been relieved of tens of thousands of Euros.

However, in recent years, China experienced a payment revolution and has seen smartphone-based mobile payment become a way of daily life to an extent that is as yet unseen almost anywhere else in the world. This trend is being led by Ant Financial’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay platform, which is built into the virtually ubiquitous WeChat app. Even fruit vendors and buskers in China often refuse to accept payment by physical cash.

Even before the CoViD-19 hit, Chinese consumers brought their retail habits with them when travelling abroad. For the time after the virus, the insistence of mobile payment will be even stronger than before and an engagement with the Chinese market almost impossible without accepting this form of payment which is seen as more hygienic, but also more convenient and safe.

So it is no surprise that the function of Value Added Tax return, an important service by retailers and tourism service providers, has been united with the acceptance of mobile payment. This week, the payments company Planet acquired the company 3C Payment, which manages the mobile payment transaction for the seller. This will now be combined with Planet’s value added payment services to create a new and unique proposition that simplifies the payment experience for merchants, acquirers and their Chinese – and other – customers. Businesses can now work with one partner and use a single payment platform to accept complex payments whether the consumers are paying in person or online.

In these difficult times, it is certainly encouraging to hear Patrick Waldron, CEO of Planet, say:

“While the CoViD-19 pandemic has left global markets in a state of uncertainty, this deal leaves us well placed to support even more businesses as demand bounces back.” 

Dear reader, our series of looking back to previous Editorials of COTRI Weekly is taking a summer break. See you again at the end of the summer, hopefully during the comeback of tourism we are all waiting for.

The eBook Chinese Outbound Tourism 2017-2019 Week by Week – The 100 Best Editorials of COTRI WEEKLY (ISBN 978-3-944757-11-7) is available at https://china-outbound.com/ebooks/