WeChat’s In-Store Cashless Payments Go Global

Tencent’s WeChat is expanding its presence far beyond China to monetize the ever-increasing number of globetrotting Chinese consumers.

The widely popular Chinese messaging app, which has over 650 million active users, has its own payments platform called WeChat Pay that is accepted at thousands of locations across China, but now with its advent in other countries, it is expected to see its acceptance greatly increase.

To back the growth in foreign markets, Tencent said, it is launching the in-store, cashless payments service in nine currencies, including the U.S. dollar, British pound, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, euro, New Zealand dollar and Korean won, according to Tech in Asia.

The company’s decision to step out of its domestic market comes as Chinese citizens flock out to explore other parts of the world in big numbers. According to the Hotels.com Chinese International Travel Monitor, as many as 107 million Chinese traveled abroad in 2014, a 20 percent increase over 2013, and those numbers are only expected to soar. Another report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch anticipates some 174 million Chinese tourists to spend $264 billion abroad by 2019.

Tencent’s expansion of its payments platform within and outside China comes on the heels of Alipay’s fast-growing customer base, which reportedly has over 400 million users, including 270 million active cellphone users.

In November, the Shenzhen, China-based company also partnered with Western Union to power P2P payments on WeChat. The partnership will essentially allow cross-border payments for U.S. users to over 200 countries through the WU Connect service.

Yesterday (Dec. 1), the company also announced the launch of WeChat Wallet in South Africa, which will allow users to store up to three Visa or MasterCard debit/credit cards on its iOS or Android app.