Citcon Brings eCommerce Payments to South Korea, Japan

California-based Citcon, a mobile wallet payment provider, has expanded its global footprint to South Korea and Japan, the company announced Monday (March 7).

eCommerce sales in Asia-Pacific totaled nearly $3 trillion last year, Citcon reported. Japan and Korea represent the fourth- and fifth-largest markets for online purchases worldwide, and the second- and third-largest in the region ranking only behind China.

In total, Japan and South Korea account for more eCommerce than Germany, France and India, combined, according to eMarketer.com.

“We are enabling merchants to enter global markets where eCommerce is expanding rapidly, yet market participation requires a localized payments solution,” said Citcon CEO Chuck Huang in a statement.

With its presence in South Korea and Japan, Huang said Citron it can help merchants expand their offerings into these fast-growing markets, enabling them to securely transact in local currencies and native languages.

Citcon’s global payments solution is designed to simplify the complex challenge of integrating and managing multiple payment options and allow cross-border commerce, the company said.

The Citcon network also enables the use of each country’s most popular digital wallets such as PayPal, RakutenPay, LinePay, AliPay and UnionPay.

When it comes to shopping, consumers are looking beyond their borders. More than 75% of shoppers in the U.S., Canada, China, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, France and Germany report having shopped with eCommerce providers outside their home countries in the last year. That’s up from 69% in 2019.

Read more: Consumers Want to Buy Globally — Is Your Site Ready?

This rise in cross-border eCommerce would suggest that companies would be wise to launch or expand their global eCommerce efforts.

Still, more than half of consumers say high shipping costs and long wait times for deliveries deter them from buying internationally. Cross-border shoppers need transparency when it comes to tax and duty costs and to see these charges accurately displayed, even if these fees are included in the price.