Pay Solutions, a Bangkok-based online payment service provider, has unveiled what it calls Asia's first social media payment system in a bid to tap booming social commerce.
The payment system, called Pay Social, allows online merchants to accept online payments on social media and messaging channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Line, WhatsApp and other online channels.
Under the new system, Merchants will send a short URL link for a payment to customers with different types of payments such as credit or debit cards, paying by instalments, counter service, PayPal or Bitcoin.
"Social commerce, a subset of e-commerce, is getting a hefty boost, with an estimated 500,000 online sellers in Thailand," said Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, founder of parent firm Efrastructure Co.
Thailand has 37 million Facebook users, ranking it as the ninth-largest Facebook population globally.
As of Aug 31, the country has 7.8 million Instagram users.
There are 10,515 online stores on Facebook and 11,213 on Instagram.
Mr Pawoot said Pay Solutions spent 20 million baht to develop Pay Social.
Individual sellers and small merchants are required to download the company's Pay Social mobile app and submit the documents to verify their identities.
Pay Solutions expects to have payment transactions worth 100 million baht through the Pay Social system this year, increasing to 600 million next year.
The company is in talks with potential partners in Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia to provide its Pay Social service abroad, Mr Pawoot said.
He said based on a projection by market research firm eMarketer, Thailand's business-to-consumer retail commerce was expected to grow by 20% to 46.5 billion baht this year. That figure will surge to 93 billion baht by 2020.