This payment method, alongside passwords, fingerprints, and facial recognition, allows users to settle payments in an alternative way, with customers now being able to pay for orders with a hand swipe. WeChat’s mini programme has already been tested in Shenzhen, with access to an accompanying palm print payment device to enable the payment. The function is still under improvement and widescale operations are yet to be realised.
Having the slogan ‘your palm represents you’, the mini programme was developed by a subsidiary of Tencent, Tenpay Payment Technology. Users can view corresponding information in their mini programme after enabling the payment function on the palm print scanning device.
Provided by WeChat Pay, the palm print scanning device is equipped with a display screen and a palm recognition area. To complete a payment, users must first activate the function and then scan their palm print in the identification area.
The WeChat payment ecosystem is intended to be diversified with the introduction of palm print; it can be used in a multitude of offline consumer markets, such as restaurants, supermarkets, and community group buying channels, amongst others.
Facing a third-party payment market in continuous expansion, palm print payments are believed to be a new opportunity to enhance WeChat’s profits, as it requires coordination with WeChat Pay provided hardware equipment.
Biometric technology and the mobile payments market in China
Palm print payments have started to gain traction in recent years, believed to be a more convenient technology than traditional password and fingerprint payment methods. WeChat started conducting pre-research on this technology in 2021, joined by Tencent‘s artificial intelligence laboratory Tencent Youtu and WeChat Pay in launching it on facial payments devices, enabling users to also experience palm print payments.
Both palm print payment and facial payment have been indicated by industry insiders as showing the biometric technology’s application in the payment field, the two methods being considered ‘non-inductive payments’. In comparison with standard password payments, biometric identification brings increased convenience and security.
The mobile payments market and usage scale are constantly expanding. According to data cited by Pandaily from a forecast released by China IRN, the number of online payment users reached 872 million as of the end of June 2021,
accounting for 86.3% of the country's total internet users, with 98% percent of users having set mobile payment as their primary choice for payment.
