More small merchants, stores and vendors have adopted contactless payment methods amid rising domestic COVID-19 infections.

“The number of stores that have asked about our service and were interested in using our electronic payment tool has risen more than 40 percent since the COVID-19 alert was raised to level 3 nationwide last week,” Line Pay Taiwan Ltd (連加網路商業) said in a statement yesterday.

Line Pay Taiwan said that most of them are small or medium-sized stores or online merchants, which are generally more hesitant about accepting virtual payments than larger stores.

A convenience store worker scans a QR code on a customer’s phone to complete a transaction in Taipei on Nov. 6, 2019. More small merchants, stores and vendors have adopted contactless payment methods amid rising domestic COVID-19 infections, companies said yesterday.

Photo: Lee Ching-hui, Taipei Times

Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) said that about 1,000 retailers and vendors have applied for and begun adopting the bank’s QR code payment tool since the beginning of this year, with the total number of stores using the tool increasing to 4,000.

Half of them are small-sized stores in wet markets, night markets or flower markets, and another 20 percent are street vendors selling food or beverages, the bank said.

Expecting more stores to adopt its contactless payment platform amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Bank SinoPac has launched an online service where stores can apply for the tool instead of visiting a bank branch, it said.

For small retailers, the advantage of the QR code system is that they would not need to install any equipment, but a mobile text would instantly let them know if they have received a payment, while it would only take customers six seconds to pay by scanning the QR code, the bank said.

To encourage more stores to adopt the virtual payment tools, Bank SinoPac said it would not charge any handling fees for the first three months, while Line Pay Taiwan said it would help new merchant partners market their products.

A survey conducted by Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) has shown that more than 85 percent of respondents would prioritize using mobile payment tool over other payment means, while another 78 percent said that the number of stores accepting mobile payments is still low.