All you need to know about UnionPay online and cross border payments
UnionPay, the largest card network in China, is expanding more everyday to become one of the largest cardholders in the world now.
UnionPay is no longer only for Chinese customers but for all clients around the world. In 2022, UnionPay had already taken the biggest market share of debit card payments (40.03%) surpassing Visa.
The reason behind this is that debit cards, which were normally used for cash withdrawals, are increasingly being used for everyday payments. But also the expansion of UnionPay internationally and the rise of cross-border e-commerce.
UnionPay’s cross-border online payment services have covered major countries and regions around the world. UnionPay cards can be used in China and abroad with no restrictions. Merchants who accept UnionPay online are exempt from currency conversion fees. Cardholders can purchas their preferred items around the world in one click without leaving their place.
In this article, we will discuss evrything merchants need to know about UnionPay online payments, advantages for them and cardholders as well as integration methods.
If you are an individual wishing to get a Virtual UnionPay Card to pay online, request a card by clicking on the button below.
Discover more information about our Virtual UnionPay Card.
Statistics about UnionPay overseas:
In 2022, more than 20 million online stores outside of China accept UnionPay online payments, covering more than 200 countries and regions including Hong Kong, Macau, Europe, America, Japan, South Korea, South Pacific, etc.
UnionPay’s card acceptance coverage in Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific was 70%, 70%, and 90% in 2021.
In 2020, UnionPay cards are were accepted by 22 million online merchants. In 2020,
UnionPay’s online transaction volume has seen an increase of nearly 15% year-on-year.
UnionPay’s mobile payment are now accepted by more than 8 million merchants in nearly 100 countries outside of China (Europe, America, Asia…)
The number of merchants accepting UnionPay’s QR code payment has doubled.
Merchants accepting UnionPay payments are from diverse industries such as retail, food, tourism, online travel booking, education, and airline booking.
How does UnionPay payments work?
Payment via card number:
UnionPay cardholders can complete their payments by typing their card details (Card number, PIN code) in the payment page. They will then receive a code via SMS to confirm their payment.
Payment via QR code:
Like Alipay and WeChat Pay, UnionPay also provides QR code payments. UnionPay provides payment solutions adapted for shopping, transfer and withdrawal. In order to pay via QR code, the user can scan the merchant’s code or the merchant can scan the user’s code.
UnionPay and the rise of e-commerce
As card usage continues to grow strongly since the beginning of COVID-19. UnionPay or UnionPay international has been collaborating with merchants from different industries and onboarding more e-commerce stores in retail, food delivery, grocery shopping, education, and entertainment sectors.
Consumers can checkout directly just by entering their UnionPay card number at 1000 major international e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and eBay.
As a result, UnionPay has seen a 10% year-on-year growth in e-commerce transactions in 2020. The strong growth is mainly due to the fast expansion among merchants that offer everyday needs, such as supermarkets.
For example, in Australia, UnionPay transactions for food deliveries doubled year-on-year in 2020.
PaybyLink: the online payment method on the rise
Whether it is a small merchant or a big company, having an e-commerce store or not, merchants can now accept payments via UnionPay in the easiest way possible.
They can now provide their customers with UnionPay online payment by just sending a payment link via SMS, email or social media to complete the payment without even the need to open an e-commerce store.
Advantages of UnionPay payment method
Accessible to everyone in 200 countries
UnionPay payment services are becoming increasingly accessible and diverse overseas, especially in Europe now. At present, 145 million UnionPay cards have been issued in 62 countries outside of China and 90 UnionPay-powered e-wallets have been implemented. In the first 10 months of this year, the transaction volume of UnionPay cards issued overseas grew by 6%.
The best offers and discounts for online purchases
UnionPay is rapidly becoming the new favorite payment method worldwide, just like Visa and Mastercard.
In countries that fought the Coronavirus and opened their territory for tourism again, like Thailand and Singapore, UnionPay has partnered with local tourism agencies, brands, supermarkets and online stores to launch special offers. UnionPay cardholders in these countries can enjoy a wide range of discounts and benefits to enjoy their shopping experience.
According to a study that was conducted in Germany, more than 50% of the respondents prefer to shop for the special holidays online (e.g. New year). Thus, UnionPay decided to offer a 10% instant discounts for shopping from cross-border e-commerce platforms in 11 countries and regions including European countries, Japan, the USA, Canada and Southeast Asia, which will further improve the customer’s shopping experience.
In 2021, UnionPay has launched one of the biggest promotion offers during the 12 12 shopping festival. In collaboration with the local e-commerce stores in several countries, UnionPay gave, on top of the store’s discount, up to 60% discounts to its cardholders simply for paying via UnionPay in these platforms.
Furthermore, UnionPay cardholders can benefit from cashbacks up to 10% for each cross-border transaction made.
The benefits cardholders get from UnionPay explains the huge number of cardholders around the world. Accepting UnionPay in your e-commerce will only attract billions of customers to your business.
No payment limit on UnionPay cards
UnionPay’s payment cap is so high that users don’t have to think about how much they can pay in a single transaction. The highest transaction amount was 850k dollars and was made in a jewelry shop in Australia.
This facilitates the cross-border payment of luxury items, university or school tuition fees that tend to be a thousands of euros.
Discover our UnionPay POS terminal to accept high amount transactions in-store.
Integrate UnionPay in e-commerce:
By adding UnionPay payment option to your store, you can accept payments from your customers from 200 countries and regions without having to open a physical store in these countries.
No maintenance fees and no hidden fees.
You can request a PaybyLink integration
You can get our PrestaShop or WooCommerce plugin to integrate UnionPay in you e-commerce
Benefit from a complete backoffice to manage your transactions and refunds
Get access to permanent assistance and a useful knowledge base to help you with your UnionPay integration
Our pricing is based only on commisision, no maintenance fees
UnionPay makes it hard for cardholders to choose any other payment method knowing the endless possibilities and features it offers. UnionPay international understood that easy, smart and fast payments are what customers are looking for. Thus, it is gaining new customers everyday and expanding their customer base to billions of clients internationally. Adding UnionPay to your payment options is definitely the right thing to do. Either you have an online store or your business operates without Website, UnionPay payments can be easily accepted.
About the author: Silkpay
Founded in 2016, Silkpay is a fintech company and provider of customized payment solutions in Europe, headquartered in Paris (France). Silkpay offers secure omnichannel payment solutions that enable physical stores and e-commerce stores in Europe and the United States to use the world's most popular payment methods: Alipay, WeChat Pay, UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, CB, PayPal, Google Pay, as well as bank transfers and direct debits.
Silkpay is a winner of the LVMH Innovation Award and was present at the LVMH stand at Vivatech in 2019. The company was also selected as a finalist for the "Money 2020" Best Startup and in the "MPE Berlin” Startup Awards. Silkpay also won the "Best Fintech" awards from Capgemini and BPCE.
Silkpay helps merchants deliver the smoothest payment experience to their customers. We are a talented and international team driven by a single goal: to improve the customer experience and make payments simple and secure.
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