Recently Paypal is experimenting a new mobile commerce app in train stations in Singapore. The mobile app allows smartphone users to shop via their phone by scanning a QR code.
The campaign is ongoing in 15 SMRT train stations and will display products from 8 retailers, with special discount for Valentine’s day.
Mobile payment and commerce is not yet popular in Asia countries because the penetration rate of smartphone is not high and credit cards are not widely available. Clearly Singapore is an exception by being the country with the highest smartphone penetration rate, out of which the most market share goes to iOS devices. In addition, the transfer rate of mobile internet is also very high with nation-wide data network coverage, plus free WIFI network. These two points make Singapore the ideal location for Paypal’s mobile commerce experiment.
Smartphone users just need to download Paypal’s QR code reader and scan the products, after which Paypal login or credit card information should be provided to complete the shopping process.
