Link Asset Management is launching Hong Kong’s first smartphone app that will let mall customers pay for both their shopping and parking.
Link expects the Park & Dine app to be adopted across its tenants’ payment systems within the next two years. It will provide merchants with data analytics to help them better understand customer needs and make more informed decisions that capitalise on market opportunities.
Market research company Statista says mobile payments around the world are expected to grow by more than 40 per cent annually from 2015 to the end of next year. This includes an estimated 2 million mobile payment users in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority estimates that e-payments accounted for more than 60 per cent of all private consumption transactions last year. It granted Stored Value Facility (SVF) Licences to 13 financial institutions last year to accelerate the development of e-payments in Hong Kong.
Link manages more than 100 shopping centres and 60,000 parking spaces in Hong Kong.
“Taking advantage of the growing e-payment trend, we have partnered with nine e-payment service providers ‒ Alipay HK, Android Pay, Apple Pay, Jetco, MasterCard, Octopus, PPS, Visa and WeChat Pay ‒ to introduce Hong Kong’s first mobile parking payment scheme through our Park & Dine app,” says Link Asset Management CEO George Hongchoy.
The mobile payment platform will be tested at six car parks, at Lok Fu Place and Temple Mall. Link aims to extend the service over the next two years to more than 30 car parks with hourly parking.
As well as real-time information on parking availability, the “E-Parking” mode enables drivers to scan a QR Code on their mobile phones when entering and leaving car parks to instantly pay for parking fees. Drivers can also use e-coupons to redeem free parking perks.
In the development pipeline, Link’s new shopping mall in Mong Kok, 700 Nathan Road, will feature ground-breaking digital applications including an innovative reward scheme for shoppers. The scheme will be expanded to other shopping malls as the technology matures.
