Gov't to expand its mobile payment system Zero Pay beyond convenience stores

전국 4만여 개 편의점, 고속도로 휴게소서 제로페이 결제… 명암은?

The government's mobile payment option is expanding across the nation.
Zero Pay can now be used at convenience stores and soon, at expressway service areas.
Cha Sang-mi sheds light on the benefits for both users and affiliates.
Dubbed Zero Pay, it's a payment system for smartphones. No need for cash or credit cards.
Starting Thursday, the upgraded version is available to use at over 43-thousand convenience stores across Korea, including GS25, Seven Eleven, and Emart24.
Zero Pay immediately transfers money from the user's personal bank account to that of the seller.
"Paying has become even easier… You just need to pull up your QR code in the banking app and that acts like a bar code. There's no longer a need to scan the stores' QR code,... or even enter the price."
The Zero Pay function also works on 21 different apps -- 11 for individual banks, a comprehensive app with 19 partner banks, and 8 easy payment apps like PAYCO and Naver Pay.
"Zero Pay is beneficial to both the consumer and the affiliates. So, the convenience stores headquarters are also actively trying to expand the system to provide convenience on both ends."
The goal of the system?
Small businesses with less than 7-hundred-thousand U.S. dollars' worth of annual sales can benefit from a zero-percent commission.
Professor Seo Ji-yong, though, says that what is important is the incentives consumers get.
"Debit cards get you a 30-percent tax deduction and the government has promised to deduct 40 percent for the consumers. When compared to that, what credit cards offer is very low. But Zero Pay does have limitations when using it for other services."
The government is laying out different incentives for the consumers as well.
In fact, since Zero Pay started last December, the number of affiliates with the payment option has doubled every month, surpassing 200-thousand as of April.
The professor says compared to the end of 2018 when there were only around 250 payments a day, by April there were 51-hundred per day.
The government is looking to expand the service to 25 expressway rest areas starting this Sunday and to over 360 subway stations by June.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.