According to a recent report, a multinational courier delivery services company has launched QR (Quick Response) Pay, a QR-code based mobile payment, in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
This payment method aims to enhance the customer experience and facilitate an efficient shipping process.
Supplementing existing online payment methods (such as through the courier and delivery services company), QR Pay aims to be a secure and convenient mobile payment option using a QR code, which is embedded with a unique payment link.
QR Pay simplifies the payment process by eliminating the need to have shopping carts, booking engines or checkouts. With QR Pay, customers can make payments with credit cards as well as e-wallets that to cater to different customer needs.
Customers can simply scan the QR code provided by the delivery services company’s couriers or printed on their invoices with their smartphones, which will then automatically direct them to the payment page.
The President of the Asia Pacific branch of the delivery services company stated that the company is constantly looking for ways to innovate, pioneer new solutions and offerings to address customers’ evolving needs in the region.
She noted that the introduction of QR Pay is an example of how the company is using technology to provide greater flexibility and convenience for their customers, and ultimately a better experience when it comes to managing their logistics needs.
The Asia Pacific is leading the world in mobile payment with more than half (53%) of connected consumers using their mobile devices to pay for goods or services at the point of sale.
Seeing a clear trend towards mobile payment adoption, SMEs are also harnessing new technologies to expand their business.
According to a recent research commissioned by the delivery services company, 73% of SMEs are already current users of mobile payments, with 69% of these businesses likely to increase usage in the next 12 months.
Thirty per cent of current non-users are likely to begin using mobile payments as well.
QR Pay will soon be expanded to other markets in the Asia Pacific.
This move happens to also be in line with the Hong Kong Smart City Blueprint’s development plans for a Smart Economy.
That is, the government seeks to promote Fintech initiatives and explore distributed ledger technology applications in different areas, including trade financing and cross-boundary transactions.
This includes facilitating the introduction of virtual banking as another model of service delivery, formulating, by [the end of] 2018, a framework to facilitate the development and wider adoption of API by the banking sector (which Hong Kong has already done as reported earlier), thereby stimulating innovations and improving financial services through collaboration between banks and technology firms.
Looking forward the Hong Kong government will continue to explore and formulate initiatives to enhance the overall business climate, particularly in areas of the technology-driven economy like Fintech and re-industrialisation; further develop the region’s I&T ecosystem to attract more start-ups and investors from other jurisdictions; and, attract more leading talents and investments to enhance our city’s economic vibrancy.
