• Companies looking to act on the trend towards mobile payments should consider tailored messaging for digitally native generations (e.g. Millennials, Gen Z).

• Users of Asian mobile payment apps expect to use them online and offline, which means companies must clearly communicate their products’ capabilities.

• Mobile penetration in emerging Asian markets has made near-field communications technology (which powers mobile payments) both possible and attractive.

Used to taking out your wallet to pay for goods and services? Increasingly, consumers in Asia no longer need to. In China, for example, people are now more likely to take out their phones instead. With a 58% mobile internet penetration rate and over a billion smartphone connections as of the end of 2018, China is the largest smartphone market in the world. Given this, companies like Tencent, the creator of WeChat, have made it possible to ‘live’ online – that is, almost anything a person may need to do day-to-day can be accomplished through its applications. Mobile payments are central to this process.

As a result, there are three important trends that communications professionals would be wise to be aware of:

• First, mobile payments are fast becoming a way of life in Asia. As a result, there is an expectation that companies will both develop mobile payment capabilities and share those capabilities with their audiences. For corporate communicators, this means appealing to lifestyle narratives, ensuring customers know how frictionless engaging with a business will be.

• Companies looking to act on the trend towards mobile payments should consider tailored messaging for digitally native generations (e.g. Millennials, Gen Z).

• Users of Asian mobile payment apps expect to use them online and offline, which means companies must clearly communicate their products’ capabilities.

• Mobile penetration in emerging Asian markets has made near-field communications technology (which powers mobile payments) both possible and attractive.

Used to taking out your wallet to pay for goods and services? Increasingly, consumers in Asia no longer need to. In China, for example, people are now more likely to take out their phones instead. With a 58% mobile internet penetration rate and over a billion smartphone connections as of the end of 2018, China is the largest smartphone market in the world. Given this, companies like Tencent, the creator of WeChat, have made it possible to ‘live’ online – that is, almost anything a person may need to do day-to-day can be accomplished through its applications. Mobile payments are central to this process.

As a result, there are three important trends that communications professionals would be wise to be aware of:

• First, mobile payments are fast becoming a way of life in Asia. As a result, there is an expectation that companies will both develop mobile payment capabilities and share those capabilities with their audiences. For corporate communicators, this means appealing to lifestyle narratives, ensuring customers know how frictionless engaging with a business will be.