Coming to a retailer near you: China’s favorite mobile payment technology

Kroger adopts QR code in new payment app, following Walmart’s footsteps

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This picture is totally not staged. (Picture: Kroger)

Karen Chiu

Published: 9:50pm, 14 Feb 2019Updated: 8:53am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

It’s hard to visit a supermarket without seeing barcodes. But soon, shoppers at Kroger will run into another type of scannable codes -- one that’s already ubiquitous in China.

Kroger Pay, the grocery chain’s brand new payment app, uses QR codes.

How the QR code conquered China

At the checkout line, a customer enters a personal PIN on their phone -- or scans their fingerprint or face -- to bring up a unique code. Hold it up, and the cashier will scan the code with a handheld reader. Money is then drawn from any debit or credit card linked to the app.

Payment apps based on QR codes have existed for a while -- but they are far more popular in China than anywhere else. Over 80% of smartphone users there pay on mobile, with the two dominant apps both relying on QR codes. Street vendors and taxi drivers use QR codes to take payments. People scan QR codes to order in restaurants or swipe into the subway.

On the other hand, the QR code is a lot less prevalent in the US. Less than a third of American smartphone owners use mobile payment, according to research firm eMarketer. And many of them use the likes of Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay -- all of which adopt wireless tech like NFC instead of the low-tech QR code.