Up to 20 more food centres ‘to offer FlashPay this year’

SINGAPORE — Customers may be able to go cashless at a further 10 to 20 food centres later this year, chief executive officer of NETS Jeffrey Goh said yesterday at the opening of the Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Goh said cashless payment — where customers tap their cards on FlashPay terminals preloaded with the dishes’ prices at participating hawker stalls — will help improve productivity.

The company did not reveal which centres would offer cashless payment. A spokesperson said the company is in discussions with a few centres islandwide.

The Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre is the latest food centre to allow the payment method, which is offered in collaboration with DBS and POSB. Last year, two hawker centres — Beo Crescent Market & Food Centre and Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre — began offering FlashPay at their food stalls.

NETS, which waived the cost of installation for participating stall owners, said a survey of 30 consumers and 13 hawkers at the Clementi centre carried out the day the system was launched showed good reception to the concept, with nine in 10 consumers saying they would use FlashPay for their purchases on their next visit.

Singapore Bedok Town Centre Merchants’ Association president Khoo Hock Khim said 70 to 80 per cent of the 70 stalls at the Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre offer contactless payment. However, the stallholders said the service has not been well-utilised. “Some of them (say) nobody knows and people are used to paying cash,” said Mr Khoo. “It’s a lifestyle change, so it (needs) time. Hopefully within the next few months, (there will be) a higher take-up rate.”

Mr Goh said NETS helps the hawkers be more productive, as the amount collected via FlashPay will be deposited into the respective stalls’ accounts the next working day. “(A stall owner) does not need to go to the cash (deposit) machine (to) put the amount in or go to the bank to deposit the collection,” he said.