Category: Mobile Payments

PayPal mobile commerce represented 1 in 3 Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales

| December 1, 2016

Of all the online orders processed by the payment platform, one third were transacted over mobile.

According to new PayPal mobile commerce data, one third of online purchases on Thanksgiving and Black Friday using that payment method were from smartphones or tablets.

Mobile devices made up one third of the total payment volume over PayPal on those two days.

These PayPal mobile commerce statistics also help to illustrate the importance of that payment platform to e-commerce as a whole. It is clear that consumers are using this transaction method on an increasing basis to complete their online purchases. When it comes to some of the top shopping days of the year such as Thanksgiving and Black Friday, that can make a significant impact on retailers’ bottom lines.

PayPal mobile commerceThe recent data suggesting that one third of PayPal payments for online purchases on those two days only underscores reports from other sources. Data analyses from other firms also suggest a similar trend where mobile accounted for about a third of Black Friday online spending.

The PayPal mobile commerce figures align very closely with the data from Adobe regarding Black Friday.

Adobe’s data pointed out that online sales during that one shopping day broke the $3 billion mark. It also pointed out that mobile devices accounted for just over a billion of those transactions.

The new figures from PayPal only add more weight to the confirmation of that trend. This also helps to provide insight into a larger part of the market, as its data adds to that from other payment methods.

PayPal currently has more than 192 million active customers as well as 15 million active merchants.

The shopping trend for both Thanksgiving Day as well as Black Friday revealed that about one third of its online purchases were through PayPal mobile commerce. This helps to show that it was not just a single day blip but that it may be a consistent trend in online shopping. This was particularly true as the total payment volume was not the same on both days. Still, the percentage of mobile shopping remained steady despite the difference in total spending.

QR code payments launched at South African McDonald’s

| November 28, 2016

A pilot program is now underway using QuickPay for WeChat customers in the country.

McDonald’s is now running a pilot project using QR code payments with a cashback offer. Customers using WeChat can get 50% cash back when they use the QuickPay service. This is exclusive to select restaurants in South Africa.

The goal is to encourage people who are already using the social messaging app to pay with their smartphones.

Participating restaurants are located in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Customers using the WeChat mobile app are being offered a special 50% cashback offer. This is mean to encourage them to use the QuickPay QR code payments at McDonald’s in a participating location.

QR Code Payments McDonald'sThis incentive is meant to help to encourage customers to try the mobile payments for the first time. By showing them how easy it is to pay for an order simply by presenting the QR codes at the point of sale so they can be scanned, McDonald’s hopes that consumers will be taken with the service and will continue to use it.

The QR code payment cashback offer is available to the first 20,000 customers to use the service.

Those customers will receive 50% cash back when they pay for their meals with their smartphones. According to the McDonald’s South Africa chief marketing officer, Daniel Padiachy, “We are continuously searching for innovative ways to enhance our customers’ experience.” He added that “We believe that WeChat’s Quick Pay will further assist us in upholding these principles.”

The WeChat app first launched in the country in November 2015. The app is owned by Tencent, the ecommerce giant from China. Payments through the service have been made possible in South Africa through a partnership with Standard Bank.

WeChat makes it possible for users to make P2P transfers as well as to scan QR codes to make payments in-store at any of 30,000 merchants across the country that support the SnapScan platform. The mobile app can also be used to purchase wireless services such as airtime and data, as well as to pay certain utility bills.

While Quick Pay is functioning within the SnapScan WeChat feature, that QR code payments option is currently available exclusively at McDonald’s.