The use of quick response (QR) codes for payments has seen a meteoric rise in Asia, to the point where people feel ‘old-fashioned’ when trying to use banknotes in Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Beijing. Consumers have been won over by the slick user experience of simply scanning and paying, while the low-tech, low-cost deployment has pulled millions of small and micro merchants into the payment system, happy that they no longer need expensive point-of-sale terminals to accept digital payments.
While QR codes have not made the same inroads in developed markets such as Europe and the US, Chinese visitors to European and US tourist destinations are beginning to fuel adoption in these regions, as e-commerce giants such as Alipay and WeChat Pay partner with local banks and merchants to provide the same payment experience they receive at home.
