Stripe has introduced a series of new tools designed to help businesses enter and grow in the Japanese market.
A key part of this launch is Stripe’s integration with PayPay, a mobile payment service that allows users to make purchases via QR codes. Through this partnership, Stripe aims to unlock businesses’ access to over 68 million PayPay users and significantly shorten payout times from the end of the month to four days.
Toshifumi Kasakawa, CEO of PayPay, commented: “I am delighted to announce our partnership with Stripe, a company with a strong global track record in online payments. Businesses on Stripe can now offer PayPay’s code-based payments to their customers, ensuring a secure and effortless payment experience.”
Kasakawa also noted that the integration could help businesses using Stripe attract younger customers, as PayPay is especially popular among consumers who don’t have credit cards.
In addition, Stripe has introduced support for card instalment payments, a method widely adopted in Western markets like the UK and the US. Although regulation around Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is still developing around the world, many consumers are already using it to spread the cost of higher-priced goods and services.
Kyohei Nakano, Co-Founder of Atmoph, which uses Stripe Billing to manage subscriptions, shared that the card instalment feature has helped expand its reach.
In a first for Japan, Stripe has also become the country’s initial payment platform to support network tokens, which are payment credentials tied specifically to a card and merchant. These tokens aim to offer a more secure alternative to storing primary account numbers and help businesses reduce costs while improving authentication rates on card payments.
Lastly, Stripe is working to simplify compliance with Japan’s newly enforced 3D Secure mandate, which took effect last month. To further support businesses, it will also leverage Radar, Stripe’s fraud prevention tool, to help detect and block fraudulent transactions.
