Note: This article covers au PAY, a mobile payment service available only to merchants and customers in Japan. The information below will not be relevant if you are not selling in the Japanese market.
au PAY is a leading mobile payment service offered by KDDI Corporation, boasting about 34.38 million members (as of the end of March 2024). It's a convenient service that lets customers pay by displaying a QR code or barcode on their smartphone, and it also supports using Ponta points. This article explains the benefits and drawbacks of adding au PAY to your Shopify store, along with the specific setup steps.
What Is au PAY?
Source: au PAY official site
au PAY is a mobile payment service offered by KDDI Corporation. Customers can pay using a barcode or QR code displayed on their smartphone, and it works both for in-store shopping and online shopping. It also lets users earn Ponta points.
Benefits of Adding au PAY to Shopify
Less hassle entering credit card details
au PAY lets customers pay as long as they have their au account information. With credit card payments, customers have to enter their card number, expiration date, security code, and so on — with au PAY, none of that data entry is needed.
Customers can earn and use Ponta points
By offering au PAY as a payment method at checkout, customers can earn and redeem Ponta points. This can also be a reason for au users who regularly use Ponta points to choose your Shopify store.
The blog article below introduces the benefits of adding a points system to Shopify along with recommended points apps. Please use it as a reference.
Helps reduce cart abandonment
Source: Baymard Institute
According to a Baymard Institute survey, the 4th most common reason for cart abandonment is "didn't want to enter credit card information," and the 10th most common is "not enough payment options." The majority of cart abandonment stems from the reason "the payment method I want isn't available." Adding au PAY is worth considering to help prevent cart abandonment among customers who don't own — or prefer not to use — a credit card.
Source: au PAY, on new merchants added in March 2024 | KDDI Corporation
According to publicly available information from KDDI Corporation, au PAY has surpassed about 34.38 million members (as of the end of March 2024), growing into a payment service used by roughly 1 in every 3.5 people in Japan.
Many au users likely think, "I want to pay with au PAY so I don't have to enter my credit card information," or "I want to use au PAY so I can earn Ponta points."
For this reason, we believe adding au PAY can help reduce cart abandonment among au users.
The blog article below introduces other reasons for cart abandonment as well as countermeasures beyond simply adding more payment options. Please use it as a reference.
Drawbacks of Adding au PAY to Shopify
It comes with a cost
The main drawback of using au PAY is that it comes with additional costs.
Using au PAY may add setup fees, monthly fees, and payment processing fees. Because au PAY is a payment method outside Shopify Payments, it also incurs a transaction fee (📍).
High fees eat into your store's profit margin, so if you want to keep costs down, choose a provider with lower fees.
The blog article below explains in detail the benefits of using Shopify Payments and its payment fees. Please use it as a reference.
📍 What is a transaction fee?
A transaction fee is a fee charged when you receive payment from a customer.
When you use a payment method from an external provider other than Shopify Payments, a fee is charged equal to the payment amount multiplied by the following rate.
| Plan Name | Starter | Basic | Grow | Advanced | Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transaction Fee | 5% | 2% | 1% | 0.50% | 0.15% |
How to Add au PAY to Shopify
To add au PAY to Shopify, you need to sign a contract with one of the following payment providers.
KOMOJU
KOMOJU is known for having no setup fee or monthly fee, and for its fast screening process.
au PAY Fees
| Setup Fee | Monthly Fee | Payment Fee |
|---|---|---|
| ¥0 | ¥0 | Physical goods 3.5% Digital content 15% |
Reference: https://ja.komoju.com/payment-methods/japan/au-pay/
SB Payment Service
SB Payment Service is a payment processing service operated by SB Payment Service Corp., part of the SoftBank Group. In addition to supporting a wide range of payment methods, it's known for its marketing support to boost sales and its robust security setup.
The blog article below explains SB Payment Service in detail. Please use it as a reference.
au PAY Fees
| Setup Fee | Monthly Fee | Payment Fee Rate | Usage Fee Rate | Transaction Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ¥1,000 | ¥1,000 | 4% | 0% | ¥5 |
Reference: https://www.sbpayment.jp/service/partner/shopify/lp02/
A Shopify App That Can Automatically Hide au PAY
After adding au PAY, you may run into situations where you want to hide it — for example, "digital products have high fees, so I want to hide au PAY for those."
This section introduces a Shopify app that can hide au PAY under any condition.
RuffRuff Order Limits
RuffRuff Order Limits is fully localized for Japanese and is Japan's first Shopify app built on the Cart and Checkout Validation API.
By using the Cart and Checkout Validation API, it handles order-restriction logic on the server side — processing that previously could only be done on the front end. As a result, it achieves more robust order restrictions that are harder to bypass compared to existing order-limit apps.
With a single app, you can apply quantity limits, amount limits, bundling restrictions, customer restrictions, and payment method hiding.
Using this app, you can achieve things such as:
・Hide au PAY when the cart total reaches ¥3,000 or more
・Hide au PAY when the cart contains digital products
・Hide au PAY for guest customers only
Summary
Adding au PAY to your Shopify store is an effective option for meeting the needs of customers who want to avoid entering credit card information, as well as au users who want to take advantage of Ponta points. That said, you'll need to factor in costs such as setup fees and processing fees. By choosing the payment provider that best fits your business — whether KOMOJU, SB Payment Service, or another option — you can adopt au PAY effectively. Consider adding au PAY as part of a broader payment-method diversification strategy to reduce cart abandonment.
Shopify also supports a variety of other payment methods. The blog article below introduces other payment methods you can add to Shopify besides au PAY. If you're considering adding a new payment method, please use it as a reference.
