Yandex.Checkout has announced the commencement of online payments to online stores and other online services in Russia via WeChat Pay.
WeChat Pay is a payment service operating as digital wallet through the Chinese messenger app WeChat.
Yandex.Checkout said the development acts as a first in Russia as previously Russian businesses could only accepted WeChat Pay at offline retail outlets.
“Yandex.Checkout is already working with Chinese companies oriented towards Russian customers, and now it also offers Russian businesses new opportunities to work with customers from China,” said Ilia Sokolov, head of Asian business development, Yandex.Checkout.
“Payment acceptance via WeChat Pay can be a starting point for growth to a business that’s working with Chinese tourists within Russia or is looking at the international market with an interest in customers from China.”
Enabling online payment acceptance is expected to provide a whole range of Russian businesses direct access to customers from China.
Customers who use the digital wallet miss the need to pay for commission on payments due to Yandex.Checkout only charging the merchant.
Users can spend up to 646 thousand rubles (69,185 yuan) to pay for a purchase at a time, and up to 1.3 million rubles (139,227 yuan) per day.
Sokolov concluded: “Moreover, WeChat is an all-purpose service for working with customers: it’s both a payment solution and a promotional tool.
“Companies that will use all the features of this service will have excellent prospects for reaching a large audience of Chinese customers.”
Yandex.Checkout first begun accepting payments made via WeChat Pay to offline companies in late 2018.
Companies that already use Yandex.Checkout only need to sign an additional contract to add WeChat Pay acceptance.
“Yandex.Checkout is one of the strategic partners of WeChat Pay in Russia. The service already helps Russian stores to accept payments via WeChat Pay offline, and now it will help everyone who wants to do so online,” explained Jeff Hu, regional director, WeChat Pay Europe.
