Grab integrates ZaloPay into its super app platform

ZaloPay will work with all of Grab Vietnam's services, including its transportation options and the delivery of food, groceries, and packages. Grab also facilitates cash payments and other cashless options through its e-wallet Moca and linked cards.

ZaloPay, the financial services arm of the internet firm VNG, operates as a standalone mobile payment app and has tied up with Visa, Mastercard, and 39 domestic banks. ZaloPay is also an integrated payment feature in the Zalo messaging app.

This is the latest development in the competitive landscape of e-wallets. According to research released by Cimigo in 2021, MoMo, Moca, and ZaloPay were the top three most popular e-wallets in the two main cities in Vietnam, accounting for more than 90 per cent of users.

However, the market has become more crowded with new players such as ViettelPay and Sea Group’s ShopeePay. Other e-wallets have made significant progress in attracting users thanks to the boost in the usage of digital payments during the pandemic, signalling dynamic competition and further growth of the Vietnamese e-payment market.

According to Filippo Bortoletti, senior manager of International Business Advisory at Dezan Shira & Associates, Vietnam is a fertile ground for the development of super apps and an attractive market. Like China a decade ago, Vietnam could be in the early phase of a digital payment revolution. Cashless payments are on the rise in Vietnam as more people use e-wallets to pay for groceries, taxi fares, phone and electricity bills, and plane tickets.

“The pandemic has fostered the development of cashless payments among locals due to high internet penetration and smartphone ownership. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s banked population is one of the lowest in Southeast Asia, which offers a great opportunity for super apps and e-wallet players to become the next Alipay or WeChatPay,” he added.

E-wallet providers continue conquering local user base Competing with huge promotions is no longer a sustainable strategy of e-wallet providers. In the context of a sharp increase in the number of users of digital payment methods and competition from new forms of payment, e-wallets have been constantly evolving and expanding cooperation to increase presence in the market.

Cashless payments take over the streets Cashless payments made through scanning QR codes or other online payment methods at grocery stores or roadside eateries are becoming a bigger habit of many Vietnamese consumers.

BNPL products come to aid of consumers The adoption of short-term financing by consumers continues to grow in Vietnam as local and foreign financial companies gear up to meet the soaring demand.