Chinese tourists, creating a great potential in terms of tourism revenues for Turkey, can now make payments through the WeChat social media application, which is an important part of their daily lives.
5 years ago, WeChat Pay, which is the most widespread mobile payment method in China, has been integrated e-commerce in order to provide a payment infrastructure for online tourism services and enable Turkey’s local manufacturers to sell to the Chinese market more easily, thus increasing the country's e-export volume.
The collaboration between TenPay Payment Technologies Co. Ltd., and Isbank has led WeChat Pay’s acceptance to Isbank’s face to face POS merchants. Thus, Isbank started to accept the WeChat Pay payment method, which is one of the most popular mobile payment methods in China, on face to face POS devices and the “Maximum İşyerim” application in addition to E-Commerce. WeChat Pay mobile payment acceptance in both TL and CNY currency is now available for tourists using the WeChat application, at more than 500 thousand merchants using Isbank’s POS devices.
Isbank has completed integration development for all POS infrastructure and made it ready for WeChat Pay acceptance. The Chinese tourists will be able to continue their payment habits safe and sound in Turkey, from purchasing airline tickets and booking hotels to shopping.
Talking about the new development, where the ongoing cooperation between Isbank and WeChat Pay has been brought to a higher level, Isbank Assistant General Manager Yalçın Sezen stated that “With the globalization in trade and the disappearance of borders, it is now a necessity for all businesses to appeal to a wider customer base. In this context, we place a special emphasis on cross-border payments in our view of face-to-face and e-commerce and we try to enrich the payment solutions we offer every day through electronic channels. Since we do acquire different local payment options from all around the world, we support our local businesses to open up to international markets and encourage the tourists who come to our country to shop safely and easily in their own country.
Today, Isbank face-top-face and e-commerce merchants can accept all major international card brands around the world, as well as 36 Alternative Payment Methods that in use in 53 countries.
The Colloboration with with WeChat Pay, which we started 5 years ago, was the integration of WeChat Pay payment method into Isbank’s Virtual POS infrastructure in order to facilitate the access of our local businesses to the Chinese market and increase e-export revenues. Today, we have carried this cooperation to our face-to-face merchants, operating in more than 500.000 different sectors across Turkey.
Thanks to the acceptance of WeChat Pay payment method in Isbank's virtual and physical POS, our Chinese guests can purchase airplane tickets and hotel reservations before they arrive in our country with WeChat Pay; After arriving in our country, they can perform their shopping safely and easily through our face-to-face merchants, of course again through the WeChat Pay application.
Tourism revenues will become very important in terms of Turkish economy, especially with the rapid increase in touristic trips postponed with Covid-19. Thanks to this collaboration, which is part of our determined support for the economy of our country, Chinese tourists will be able to continue their payment behavior in Turkey. In financial terms, this ideal experience that offered to Chinese tourists, will add value for Turkey to become a center of attraction. In the past, we brought UnionPay and Alipay payment methods to our country for the payment needs of Chinese tourists. With this last move, we have opened all payment methods that are widely used in China to our online and offline workplaces.”
Jeff Hu, Regional Director of WeChat Pay commented that “WeChat Pay’s mission is to offer Chinese consumers fast and secure payment with best in class user experience. We would like to enable WeChat Pay with Turkish merchants by working with local partners. We are delighted to work with Isbank in Turkey to extend our convenient payment experience, transforming not only the online payment journey, but also by optimizing in-personal payment scenarios.”