My Experience with Mobile Wallet in Bangkok: Central World Mall

Hi everyone, Wendy from PassKit here. I’m currently writing this while taking a short holiday in Bangkok. There may or may not be a glass of mimosa sitting right beside me.
I managed to squeeze in a few minutes of down time to put my thoughts into words. The reason I’m writing this post is so that I can share my real-life experience with mobile wallet here in Bangkok, Thailand.
I was so compelled to write this was because I wasn’t even thinking about / expecting to use wallet content while on holiday.
So here’s how it went down.
I was walking along the streets of Siam Square when I reached for my phone to check if I had any new messages. While I didn’t receive any Snapchats or Facebook messages, what I did see was 2 location based lock screen messages that linked to passes in Apple Wallet. I’m normally used to seeing these on a daily basis in Hong Kong, but I certainly wasn’t expecting to see this in Bangkok.
So why was I so delightfully surprised?
1. The GPS alert actually reminded me that I could use these 2 coupons nearby. I didn’t even remember that I had these in my phone!
2. It puts a smile on my face to be able to see mobile wallet content used in the real world.
One of the lock screen alerts was for Yves Rocher and the other was for Central World Mall. I took a screenshot of it while I was in Bangkok to capture the moment.

And here’s the coupon:

My immediate thoughts were “I want to need to use this coupon.” I needed to experience this in real life. I was already in range of the mall. I couldn’t let that opportunity pass. Plus, I was on holiday so I couldn’t leave Bangkok without buying a few items.
We walked over to Central World Mall and I went straight to the information desk to ask if I could use this coupon in their stores. I showed them the pass on my phone, and they seemed to recognize it. One had to ask her colleague how they should respond, and shortly after they handed me a small booklet with extra paper coupons that I could use in the mall. I was a bit confused by this and reluctant to take the booklet, but I did so anyway. I asked them which stores would accept the coupon in my phone and they then gave me a leaflet with a directory of stores on it. Looks like they accept it in all stores?
I walked over to Sephora first to see if there was anything I wanted to buy so that I could use the coupon. After spending 15 minutes browsing and still couldn’t find anything that I wanted, I asked the cashier if they accept the coupon on my phone. She looked at it and instantly recognized it and told me that I would need to spend 2000 Baht (around US$55) in order to get the 5% discount. I thanked her for letting me know but left the store because there wasn’t anything I particularly wanted to buy.
Next stop – The Body Shop. I knew that I could always find something I wanted there. Note: I’m not endorsing any brand here, but if anyone who works at the Body Shop is reading this post, I’ll be more than happy to test any new products you have 😃
This time, I walked in and went straight to the sales rep and again, showed her the pass on my phone and asked if I could use it here. Similar to Sephora, she told me that I would need to spend 2000 Baht to get a 5% discount. She also said that if I had spent 3000 Baht, I would get a 10% discount and if I spent 4000 Baht, I would get a 15% discount. I had only gone into 2 stores, but it seemed like each store had their own discount structure. I knew I should have checked out Prada.
Anyway, I filled my basket with a few items that was well over 2000 Baht and headed to the cashier. She scanned every item and when I handed her my pass to scan, she said she didn’t need to. I asked her why not but she didn’t know how to answer that. It looks like it was just a “show me your pass” to get the discount.
I have to admit, I was really hoping that she’d scan my pass because I really wanted to see that in action. I was even hoping that upon scan, I’d see the barcode removed or that it would change to a different offer. (P.S. You can easily set this up in CherryPie).
Nevertheless, I was happy that I still received a discount to my purchase. Here’s a video of me at The Body Shop using the Central World coupon:

Some additional thoughts:
I was very impressed by the fact that the staff in the mall recognized the coupon. Central World did a great job training their staff to at least know that these coupons existed and could be used by shoppers.
What I would recommend is that they add more information on the back of the pass. For example, a link to a page where they list out all the participating stores and the terms of use. I had to ask the staff which stores I could use this coupon in, and found out that it could only be used after spending a certain amount of money (2000 Baht in my case).
It would have also been cool if they added the Google Maps app on the back of the pass with the Central World Mall location already set up in it. That way, I can tap on the app and it would automatically open up Google Maps with the location already there. That feature would have made it much more seamless, particularly for tourists like myself.
Overall, I was very happy with the mobile wallet experience. If they hadn’t set up GPS alerts on their pass, I wouldn’t have gone into Central World Mall. I wouldn’t have been reminded that I was only 1 block away and that I had a 5% discount coupon to use. Hats off to Central World Mall for doing that and making my trip to Bangkok that much sweeter.
P.S. Do check out Bangkok when you can. You get to eat things like this amazing coconut ice cream.

Have you had any amazing experiences with mobile wallet? Share them with us below!