Z Holdings Parent company SoftBank and LINE parent firm NAVER have been involved in a series of transactions for getting the merger underway

Z Holdings Corporation (ZHD Group), which operates the PayPay app, has announced a merger with LINE, according to a press release Monday.

Z Holdings Parent company SoftBank and LINE parent firm NAVER have been involved in a series of transactions for getting the merger underway.

According to the press release, the services of PayPay and LINE Pay will be “merged at the merchant level,” with that starting in late August that will allow users to make payments with LINE Pay.

Apart from this, discussions are being held on the possibly of integrating LINE’s QR and barcode payment applications as well.

ZHD Group is one of Japan’s largest internet corporations and has 23,000 employees. The group covers three sources of actions which the release calls indispensable to daily life — information, payment and communication.

The merger will come with new innovations such as a new social commerce app, which will let users buy and send gifts, watch live streaming performances and more. One of the features associated with this app will be “X (Cross) Shopping,” which will link product data of online as well as physical stores, allowing users to choose the purchase method best suits to their needs.

Moreover, new “smart stores” will be developed to provide EC solutions for business operators such as construction, operation and analysis of their own websites. Customer service and traffic referral will be available as well. The company also intends to design a mechanism which will allow companies manage and operate physical stores, eCommerce sites, social media sites and other such things in one app.

Despite Japan being home to one of the world’s first mobile commerce inventions, the DotCoMo digital wallet in 2004, it has primarily remained a cash-based economy.