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TOKYO: For six decades, shoppers at Mikawaya, a rice dealer in eastern Tokyo, paid in cash - until sales staff from payments app<\/a> PayPay<\/a> swept through the low-lying district, persuading the store to give their product a try.
With customers clamouring to use the service and nearby stores signing up, PayPay<\/a>'s offer of free installation and no handling fees was too good to refuse, the store's owners say.
\"We thought there could be no harm in trying it out,\" said Moeko Suzuki, who helps her father run the store, standing amid sacks of rice. \"The number of young people has really increased.\"
Owned by deep-pocketed SoftBank, PayPay has deployed a shoe-leather sales force of thousands to target restaurants, drugstores and supermarkets, attracting more than 3 million merchants, an industry-leading number in a country with about 5.3 million businesses, according to government data.
\"We got rid of the reasons - like it being expensive or a hassle - to not introduce PayPay,\" Hajime Baba, PayPay's chief operating officer, said in an interview.
PayPay is emerging as key driver of a government-supported consumer shift away from cash as Japan grapples with deepening labour shortages and the need for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Late to payments, SoftBank drove uptake of PayPay through cash-back campaigns. In one prominent example, it gave away 10 billion yen ($90 million) in 10 days.
Burning cash on such rebates and - for now - not charging smaller businesses for its payment service, PayPay is losing money. But the company also wants to funnel customers to loans, deposits and shares trading on the app, entailing increasing exposure to the highly regulated finance industry.
It has attracted more than 39 million users in the two and a half years since launch, and SoftBank completed a merger between its internet<\/a> business and a major PayPay competitor - chat app Line - in March. Since then, PayPay has added millions of users.
Merchant handling fees, which are set at zero for smaller firms, will rise this year. Baba said PayPay aims to set them as low as possible while covering costs.
How the core business fares at that point is crucial to the service's survival. Merchants such as rice dealer Mikawaya say the benefits of the app outweigh those costs.
\"For retailers, not having a lot of cash on hand or having zero, which is the ideal, has huge benefits in terms of reducing administration,\" said Michael Causton, an analyst at JapanConsuming.
The model follows that of Ant Financial, an affiliate of SoftBank's most valuable investment, Alibaba, whose 730 million Alipay users in China can borrow money, check their credit score and buy wealth-management products through the app.
\"We're learning from Ant Financial how we can monetize (PayPay). They launch short term and basically they're able to monetize short term,\" Junichi Miyakawa, CEO of SoftBank Corp<\/a>, said last month.
PayPay will hope to avoid the regulatory pushback Alipay faces in China, where it is being forced to restructure.
It also must continue to overcome the historic preference for cash or credit card transactions in Japan.
MADE IN JAPAN<\/strong>
By using QR codes, PayPay can process payments via smartphones and without the need for costly terminals, emulating frontrunners from markets lacking retail infrastructure.
\"They used to say 'Oh, QR codes, it's a technology for underdeveloped or developing countries,'\" said Aditya Mhatre, who was head of PayPay's product team before returning to India's Paytm<\/a>. \"That myth is gone.\"
Japan had many of the building blocks of world-beating payments services early on. Both QR codes and Felica, the contactless technology powering East Japan Railway's payments system, were invented by local firms.
PayPay's rivals include Rakuten, which is targeting SoftBank's mobile users and has disrupted the credit card industry by simplifying applications.
The railway's Felica-based Suica has 9 million users on mobile and 80 million smartcards issued. The tap-to-pay system is not used by many small businesses, but is favoured by QR code detractors who complain apps like PayPay are fiddly.
PayPay is betting on scale to help it stand out and survive. Chat app operator Line merged with SoftBank's Z Holdings in March, giving PayPay access to Line's 88 million users, some 39 million of which use its payment features.
\"Integration is the key to unlocking potential revenues for PayPay, and their history of integration at SoftBank and Z Holdings hasn't always been as fast and optimal as it could have been,\" Causton said.
Baba said the profit from SoftBank's domestic units enabled PayPay's cash-burning expansion. Executives declined to provide a timeline for profitability but point to falling costs from cash-back campaigns with more funding from corporate partners and the government.
The conglomerate hopes to list PayPay, which booked a $660 million loss in the year ended March. SoftBank plans to consolidate PayPay into its wireless unit after Paytm<\/a>, which developed some of the technology powering the app, takes a small stake in the business.
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在日本软银PayPay飙升的数字支付比赛
财力雄厚的软库旗下PayPay已经部署了成千上万的费时费力的销售力量针对餐馆、药店和超市,吸引超过300万名商人,一个行业领先的数字在中国约有530万家企业,据政府数据。
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东京:60年来,购物者在Mikawaya,大米经销商在东京东部,以现金支付,直到从支付销售人员应用程序 PayPay横扫低洼区,说服商店尝试他们的产品。
与客户叫嚣着要使用服务和附近的商店签约,PayPay提供免费的安装和没有太好拒绝处理费用,商店的老板说。
“我们认为可能是没有害处的尝试,“Moeko Suzuki说,帮助父亲经营商店,站在袋大米。“年轻人的数量确实增加了。”
财力雄厚的软库旗下PayPay已经部署了成千上万的费时费力的销售力量针对餐馆、药店和超市,吸引超过300万名商人,一个行业领先的数字在中国约有530万家企业,据政府数据。
“我们摆脱了——就像它是昂贵或麻烦的原因——不PayPay介绍,“Hajime巴巴,PayPay首席运营官,在接受采访时表示。
PayPay正成为一个政府支持的消费者的关键驱动因素从现金转移之际,日本劳动力短缺和深化COVID-19大流行期间社会距离的必要性。
晚付款,软银开车吸收PayPay通过现金回馈活动。在一个著名的例子,它把100亿日元(合9000万美元)的10天。
烧钱等退税,现在不收费为其支付服务中小企业,PayPay赔钱。但公司还希望漏斗客户贷款、存款和股票交易应用程序,必然要增加暴露在高度监管的金融行业。
它已经吸引了超过3900万的用户在启动以来的两年半,和软库之间的合并完成互联网业务和主要PayPay竞争对手——聊天应用线——3月。从那时起,PayPay增加了数以百万计的用户。
商家处理费用,为小公司设置为零,今年将上升。爸爸说PayPay旨在让他们尽可能低,同时覆盖成本。
核心业务的表现将会如何,在这一点上对服务的生存是至关重要的。商人如大米经销商Mikawaya说应用程序带来的好处大于成本。
”零售商,没有很多的现金或零,这是理想,在减少政府方面有巨大的好处,”Michael Causton说JapanConsuming分析师。
蚂蚁的模型之前,金融、软银最有价值的投资的子公司,阿里巴巴在中国的7.3亿支付宝用户可以借钱,检查他们的信用评分,通过应用程序购买理财产品。
“我们从Ant金融学习如何赚钱(PayPay)。他们基本上推出短期和短期能够赚钱,”首席执行官Junichi Miyakawa软银集团上个月说。
PayPay将希望避免监管推迟支付宝在中国,面临被迫重组。
它还必须继续克服历史偏好现金或信用卡交易在日本。
在日本制造
通过使用QR码,PayPay可以通过智能手机和支付流程不需要昂贵的终端,模仿领跑者从市场缺乏零售基础设施。
“他们常说‘噢,QR码,这是一个技术不发达或发展中国家,”“Aditya Mhatre说PayPay产品团队的负责人是谁之前回到印度Paytm。“那神话了。”
日本有许多世界一流的支付服务的构建块。QR码和灵通,非接触式技术推动东日本铁路的支付系统,是当地公司发明的。
PayPay的竞争对手包括乐天,这是针对软银移动用户和已经扰乱了信用卡行业通过简化应用程序。
铁路的Felica-based西瓜有900万用户在移动和8000万智能卡发行。tap-to-pay系统由许多小企业不习惯,但二维码青睐的反对者抱怨应用程序像PayPay繁琐。
PayPay押注规模来帮助它脱颖而出并存活下来。聊天软件运营商行3月与软银的Z控股合并,给PayPay线的8800万用户,3900万的使用它支付功能。
“集成的关键是解锁PayPay潜在收入,以及他们的历史融合在软银和Z控股并不总是以最快的速度和最优,因为它可能是,“Causton说。
爸爸说,利润从软银国内单位启用PayPay气粗的扩张。高管拒绝提供时间表盈利但从现金回馈活动指向成本下降与更多资金从企业伙伴和政府。
集团希望PayPay列表,订了一个截至今年3月的6.6亿美元损失。软银PayPay合并到其无线单元后的计划Paytm,开发了一些技术驱动的应用程序,需要少量股份。
