FASTER FOOD: Hope that mobile payments will shorten queues during restaurant rush hours

Nearly 5,000 KFC China fast food restaurants will accept Alipay mobile payments next month, following in the footsteps of Walmart which is rolling out support for the service in all of its Chinese stores by the end of this year.

Some 700 KFC outlets in Shanghai and Hangzhou, Zhejiang province have already linked up their payment systems to accept the mobile payment solution. All KFC restaurants in the country only accepted cash payments before this collaboration.

“Customers can now use their unique Alipay QR code or barcode in their Alipay smartphone apps to pay for their orders,” Alibaba’s online financial service Ant Financial explains.

“The transaction will take two seconds or less and the hassle-free payment method is likely to shorten queues during rush hours at KFC restaurants.

“KFC China has set up its own service counter on Alipay Wallet, and customers can access information on KFC deals and promotions via the smartphone app.”

Koubei, the joint venture set up by Alibaba and Ant Financial earlier this month to let consumers order and pay for local services using their smartphone, is also set to work with KFC China and is in discussion with the chain on “further collaborations to upgrade services for customers”.

“Alipay is dedicated to providing user-friendly and convenient mobile payment methods for our 300 million users,” says Fan Zhiming, president of Ant Financial’s payment business unit.

“The cooperation with KFC China signifies a milestone of how Alipay will revamp offline payments across the country, and we are working closely with KFC China to provide better deals and services for customers.”