BC Card Expands On-Site QR Payment Infrastructure with Mobile POS Startup Payhere

From this day, offline QR code payment system applied to over 18,000 nationwide Payhere franchise stores
BC Paybook-Naver Pay payment possible with QR only, no physical card needed

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] BC Card announced on the 29th that it will expand offline QR payment infrastructure targeting small and micro merchants in collaboration with Payhere, a startup providing cloud-based mobile POS (Point of Sale) systems.

The two companies recently assessed that while mobile-based simple payment demand is rapidly increasing mainly among the MZ generation (born between the 1980s and 2000s), there are relative difficulties in innovating payment infrastructure.

Accordingly, BC Card applied an offline QR code payment system to approximately 18,000 Payhere merchant stores. It supports the CPM (Customer-Presented Mode) method, where QR codes generated for the payment methods chosen by customers, such as cards and prepaid electronic payment instruments, are recognized at the merchant.

Payhere’s merchants mainly consist of small business owners such as individual cafes. Since it provides a cloud-based mobile POS service that allows store operation and management solely through a mobile app, the company explains that it is gaining attention in terms of cost and management efficiency.

Through this collaboration, customers can now easily make payments at all Payhere merchant stores using only QR codes generated from BC Card’s Paybook and Naver Pay without physical cards. Because it is not restricted by mobile device type, payment convenience for iPhone and wearable device users is expected to improve significantly.

Merchants can process payments by using the camera on a mobile device with the Payhere POS app installed to scan the customer’s QR code. The advantage is that simple payment services can be accepted without additional costs such as purchasing dedicated terminals.

Kim Yong-il, Head of BC Card’s Customer Division (Executive Director), stated, "Offline simple payment services have so far been provided mainly to large and franchise merchants or had usage restrictions depending on mobile device types, limiting universality. We will continue to actively support small business owners to adopt simple payment services without burden and strive to provide customers with universal payment convenience."