PAYMENT GATEWAY FOR CHINA
As you probably already know, the Chinese market is very different from what the Western world understands. China prefers to develop and use local solutions. This is clearly the case with web and digital systems.
For instance, Facebook, Google, YouTube, Instagram and others are blocked in China. You need to use local social media and platforms such as WeChat, Baidu, Youku and Weibo to access to this market and to reach your local audience.
This is also the case with hosting solutions. If you are willing to host your website or E-commerce website in China, you need to have an ICP license, and to have an ICP license, you need to have a Chinese business license. Without these licenses, you could host your website in Hong Kong, but you will not have access to some local services like Baidu PPC.
HOW DO PAYMENT GATEWAYS WORK IN CHINA?
Globally, customers use their MasterCard or VISA cards to make their online payments. According to Statista, these are the payment methods used by 42% of online shoppers. While in second place, electronic payments, such as with PayPal, are used by 39%. Mobile payments are quite low being at only 14%.
However, in China, the online payment system is shared with Alipay. It represents almost 32%, and Tenpay (including WeChat Pay) represents almost 20%. Both are mobile payment methods. Common Chinese payment systems, such as UnionPay (or China UMS) is represented by just 16%.
As you can see, there is a significant difference between the Western world and China. If you want to do business with Chinese customers, you will need to adapt your method of receiving payments for this audience and make available the local methods of payments. You should include Alipay and WeChat Pay for the online mobile payment methods and UnionPay for the debit payment method.
These three payment methods are necessary if you want to sell online in China. This means you will have to integrate them into your E-commerce website. To accomplish this, you will need the help of a specialist in payment gateway integration, such as QPSoftware.
ALIPAY, WECHAT PAY AND UNIONPAY
They may seem simple to integrate; however, it is the opposite. Indeed, each of them have unique aspects, and they have several different APIs, according to their use. Let’s have a look at these different uses:
- UnionPay: There are several APIs. One B2C (B2C cards for end consumers on desktop version), one B2B (B2B cards for companies for desktop version), one native mobile, one web application, etc. Their development and integration are very different. One of the main elements of differentiation between B2B and B2C, is the amount of money you can pay with. Also, the security process is different. Security is higher for the B2B card payments.
- Alipay: There are three main APIs which are for the desktop version, web application and native application. They are for all the different platforms and are simpler to implement.
- WeChat Pay: There are four main APIs which are for offline stores: WeChat Official Account, Mini Programs and desktop. Moreover, QPSoftware has developed different codes to help integrate these into your projects. You can find them on GitHub.
Moreover, if you want to implement other functions, such as a refund, or other specific scenarios, regarding payments, sometimes you will need to develop customized functions that enable these actions.
