Merchants in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore can now add WeChat Pay as a payment option on their e-commerce platform thanks to a new payment acceptance service launched by global fintech leader, Airwallex.

The new offering provides merchants access to over 800 million Chinese consumers on WeChat Pay, enabling them to tap into a key Asian marketplace of active shoppers.

WeChat is one of the largest social media platforms in the world with 1.2 billion monthly active users. The WeChat Pay function allows users to make payments in their local currency for their purchases.

AirWallex’s WeChat Pay solution is designed to ensure smooth and fast flows of funds from buyers to the merchants. Payments made by buyers in Chinese Yuan or Hong Kong Dollar are received by Airwallex and converted to the merchants’ currency of choice within two business days.

On the Airwallex platform, merchants can view, track and manage their WeChat Pay transactions and download settlement reports, as well as issue refunds. Airwallex is currently working on additional features such as a data analytics tool which will provide business insights on WeChat Pay payments to help merchants tailor their strategies and boost sales.

Airwallex head of corporate development in Australia, Dave Stein said, “We have seen e-commerce thrive during these unprecedented times. We believe this transition is here to stay even after the global lockdown ends, life normalises and shops reopen.

“As more merchants transition online, they require a wide range of payment acceptance options to remain relevant to different payment preferences around the world. With our new WeChat Pay solution, we are enabling merchants to adapt in today’s climate and helping them open the doors to one of the largest and most active consumer markets in this world.

“Adding a payment acceptance solution to the Airwallex product portfolio is an important next step to enhancing our end-to-end financial services solutions. We are now perfectly positioned to improve the way businesses collect online payments and ensure that the process is as fast, secure and seamless as possible.”