TOKYO – The Japanese provider of popular QR-code based payment app PayPay said Tuesday its service will be available for use at over 2 million stores in South Korea from late September, in the company’s first business expansion abroad.
PayPay Corp., a SoftBank Group Corp. firm, said it chose South Korea in its outward debut as the neighboring country was the most popular overseas destination among Japanese travelers and cashless payment is prevalent there, making it easier to gain cooperation from local merchants.
“We hope to further expand PayPay use abroad in places popular with Japanese tourists,” such as Taiwan, Hawaii and China, said Masayoshi Yanase, head of the finance business strategy division of PayPay, which now has over 70 million users.
Once arriving in South Korea, PayPay users can use the payment method at local stores that already accept either South Korea’s Zero Pay or China’s Alipay Plus.
The display of deposit balance and PayPay shopping points on the screen automatically switches to a local mode upon arrival, with amounts shown in South Korean won. Users can also transfer and receive money in won in South Korea.
PayPay said it decided to provide its services overseas after seeing a vast majority of travelers to Japan already adopting cashless payments.
At present, users of 26 cashless payment services from 14 countries and regions can make payments at merchants accepting PayPay when visiting Japan, including China’s Alipay and WeChatPay.
The company estimates that 78 percent of 36.87 million inbound travelers in 2024 used their QR-code based payment in Japanese stores allowing PayPay use.
