Japan’s internet giant Line and Mercari join forces to create mobile payment services

In recent years, Japan has made a lot of efforts in the cashless society.

According to media reports, in Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, internet companies compete to seize dominance in the field of cashless trading. Japan’s Internet giant Line and Mercari companies have teamed up to create mobile payment services.

Line, Japan’s most popular instant messaging platform operator, and Mercari, a second-hand online marketplace app operator, told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday that from early this summer, users will be able to pay shopping at stores that support their payment systems. Line and Mercar also launched a coalition to welcome other mobile payment providers to join.




Competition in Japan’s mobile-payment market is heating up after years of stagnation. Line and Mercari are joining forces to face strong competitors: E-commerce giant Rakuten runs its own bank, has credit CARDS for more than 15 million customers and is building a mobile network.

Last December, with the support of SoftBank Group, Yahoo Japan and the Indian company Paytm, PayPay mobile payment app has sparked a shopping spree by introducing 10 billion yen (90 million dollars) of shopping rebates for users.

” The partnership between Mercari and Line is entirely reasonable and should help reduce the cost of infrastructure construction and promotion.” Asymmetric Advisors Pte, market strategist Amir Anvarzadeh in a report to clients. “Companies that dominate e-commerce and instant messaging platforms have a great opportunity to tap into the mobile payment market. “

Rakuten is also involved in financial services and will soon enter the mobile network market with a competitive pricing program. As a result, it is likely to join the ranks of Japan’s two largest mobile payment providers. The mobile payment service created by Line/Mercari will also be one of the two major mobile payment services in Japan.

Rakuten and line started earlier in terms of payments, while Mercari was a latecomer. But none of them can achieve an insurmountable lead.

The two largest convenience store chains in Japan, Lawson and family Mart, have embraced the most competitive payment methods.



So do fast food operator Matsuya Foods, electronics store Bic Camera and pharmacy chain Tomod’s.

Internet companies are also starting to use discounts and giveaways to attract users. PayPay mobile payment app is implementing a second rebate campaign, while Rakuten customers can earn 40 times times as much points for shopping. All three leading mobile payment companies offer users a shopping rebate, with a maximum rebate of up to 20% of their purchases.

Line believes its partnership with financial institutions will help it stay ahead of the
competition.

The company plans to launch the Securities trading service line Securities this year in
partnership with Nomura Holdings, Japan’s largest broker, provided the company has access to regulatory permission.

Line is also working with Mizuho Financial Group to launch the banking business, which could be launched as early as the fall of 2020 Mizuho. Last November, Line, the Internet company, also announced a partnership with Chinese Tencent and its WeChat payment service to serve Chinese tourists traveling to Japan.

Line and Mercari’s payment businesses will remain separate, with separate marketing, customer service and fees collected from stores. Mercari’s Merpay payment service was accepted at 1.35 million stores across Japan, including 900,000 stores using the iD contactless payment service of Japanese telecoms company NTT Docomo, And Line Pay is available in 1.33 million stores. The two companies didn’t discuss the extent to which their businesses overlap.