Pi Mobile Technology Inc (拍付國際), a subsidiary of PChome Online Inc (網路家庭), yesterday launched its Pi mobile wallet app, which can be used in more than 5,000 convenience stores nationwide.
The app is the result of a collaboration between PChome, the nation’s leading online shopping portal, CTBC Bank (中信銀行), the nation’s largest credit card issuer, and Uni-President Enterprises Co (統一企業), which operates the 7-Eleven franchise.
“The partnership with 7-Eleven is expected to accelerate growth in mobile payment usage in Taiwan, as smartphones and convenience stores have become an integral part of our daily lives,” PChome chairman Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) told a press conference in Taipei.
Bundled with a CTBC Bank credit card, consumers can make electronic payments of less than NT$1,000 (US$31.95) at 7-Eleven stores nationwide with the Pi app running on their smartphones, as the app creates a bar code on a user’s smartphone display.
With cash payments accounting for 75 percent of retail transactions nationwide, Jan said that Taiwan has a lot of catching up to do compared with Scandinavian nations, where the figure has dwindled to less than 30 percent, while the use of hard currency in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea has fallen to about 50 percent.
To ensure security, PChome said consumers’ credit card information is stored remotely and users are required to key in a four-digit code before each purchase.
“Our proprietary system ensures that each bar code expires within five minutes and transactions are completed within two to four seconds,” Pi Mobile chief operating officer Luke Han (韓昆舉) said.
Jan said he expects the Pi app to generate NT$2 trillion in potential business opportunities at a time when the penetration of mobile payment usage is increasing to about 50 percent.
The company declined to give a target for transaction volume, but said it is committed to making the app available to other retailers and banks.
“You might be able to do without a government, but you sure cannot live without 7-Eleven,” Jan said.
While the upper limit of NT$1,000 is low, capped by government regulations, it is a good start for consumers as they grow accustomed to using mobile payment systems, he said.
PChome’s mobile wallet is expected to compete with 7-Eleven’s own ibon mobile payment app which was launched in April 2012 and has since been downloaded 900,000 times.
The company believes the partnership with the convenience store chain marks the beginning of online-to-offline capabilities for Pi, after PChome in May introduced its PChomePay (支付連) service to facilitate the company’s numerous online retail and auction platforms.
Neither PChomePay nor Pi are likely to contribute meaningful earnings to the company in the near term, but rather serve as important support mechanisms for the company’s online shopping platforms, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) researchers Livia Wu (吳靚芙) and Jessie Lo (羅羽捷) said in a note last week.
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