“Scan QR code payment is convenient”–Mobile payments are changing the payment habits of Thais

Like many markets around the world, Thailand’s retailers and restaurant chains are facing a rapidly changing business environment. Technology has changed the behaviour of consumers, and people are increasingly demanding the speed of online shopping and catering.

Electronic payments are becoming increasingly popular with the full support of the Government, and through the National Strategic Plan for electronic payments under Thailand’s 4.0 plan, restaurant chains, retailers, gas stations and online merchants have improved their e-payment acceptance to seize more opportunities in the future.

Last year, QR code payment started to appear in Thailand, with mobile payment service providers including Paysbuy, LINE,BluePay, TrueMoney, Alipay, WeChat payment, PromptPay, mPAY and PayPal.




Bangchak Retail Co., a non-oil sector operator at Bangchak, said that since December last year, the company has provided QR code payments at 70 spa stores and Intanin coffee chains in Thailand. The company will offer more QR code payments this year.

Shell operates 520 Shell gas stations, 320 Shell Helix oil changing stations, 74 Select convenience stores and 55 Deli cafes in Thailand. In January of this year it launched QR code payments.




In October, Bangkok bank of Thailand launched the qr code payment electronic wallet.

Since China’s WeChat Pay and Alipay “captured” Thailand, Chinese tourists in Thailand to pay for shopping has become convenient and fast, trading volume is much higher than before.

“Now many tourists come to Thailand with little cash and are used to paying by mobile phone，In particular, Chinese customers will specifically pick up stores that support mobile payment. ” “There are about 40 percent more customers in the store since mobile payments were introduced. There are about 40 percent more customers in the store now that we have mobile payments,” Siam Wellness group international marketing manager Peter kochappa told reporters.

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Mobile payments not only boost the desire to buy from Thai tourists, but also change Thais ‘ payment habits.




Kochappa said, “mobile payment is also welcomed by the store staff, the use of mobile phone payment, only need to sweep QR code, do not need to manually count money, can reduce errors, but also save time.” ”

Ms. Suparsi, who was shopping in the store, was using her mobile phone to swipe a qr code to pay her bills, telling reporters she was used to it. she said:”Scanning a qr code to pay is convenient, I hope this kind of payment method becomes more and more popular in Thailand. “

In the streets of Bangkok and Chiangmai, merchants with various mobile payment service labels posted on their windows can be found everywhere.




Whether it is a convenience store, a duty-free shopping mall, a restaurant or a spa, many people will choose to take out their mobile phones and use mobile scanning to pay.

A total of tens of thousands of merchants in Thailand have been connected to Alipay since December 2015. These include: Duty-free shop kingpower, convenience store 7Eleven, pharmaceutical shop boots, department store retail Group Central Group, the Mall group, catering retail Hotel Minor Group, Local well-known brands Naraya Bangkok bags as well as cosmetics brand snailwhite and Mistine and so on.

While mobile payment is not as popular in Thailand as it is in China, people in Thailand are beginning to embrace this convenient way of paying.