QR Codes and the Chinese App Economy

What growing wealth in China’s biggest city has meant for consumer access to convenience

Everyday life in Shanghai has some major perks, especially when it comes to tech. People still use QR codes here and they use them with a vengeance.

While QR codes never really took off elsewhere in the world, people in China have come to rely on them for everything.

Literally everything is linked by QR codes, and more than helping you find websites and enter competitions, they help you pay for everything, order anything, and sort your whole life.

Super App’s

Apps here such as Alipay and WeChat can be linked to your bank account and provide you with a QR code that shopkeepers can scan with the same scanning devices they use on their own products.

Even tiny Mom & Pop stores who elsewhere wouldn’t be able to afford credit card reading machines can afford to have the app on their phone that scans your QR code.

Smart phones can be purchased here for a steal (they’re made locally and the competition is fierce) so there’s no one left out of the system.

Your QR app can also be used to pay for bills that once upon a time made you cry with frustration. I use…