Dairy Farm, Nets to enable WeChat Pay at Singapore's 7-Eleven, Guardian, Cold Storage and Giant stores from Nov 1

DAIRY Farm's Singapore stores will soon allow shoppers to make payments by WeChat, to serve the growing number of visitors from China.

From Nov 1, WeChat Pay will be enabled at each of the over 600 Cold Storage, Giant, 7-Eleven and Guardian stores island-wide.

WeChat Pay users simply need to scan the Nets QR code on the Nets unified POS (point of sale) terminal at the check-out counter, Dairy Farm Singapore and payments network Nets said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

WeChat Pay will determine the foreign exchange charge at the point-of-sale, and users will be shown the charges in Chinese yuan.

The service is already available at some 7-Eleven and Guardian stores at Changi International Airport and key tourist destinations in the Orchard and Chinatown districts.

Dairy Farm runs Singapore's largest retail group. The rollout will offer more convenience to Chinese visitors and China nationals based in Singapore, the companies said.

Visitor arrivals from China rose by almost 13 per cent from 2016 to 3.2 million in 2017, they said, citing Singapore Tourism Board figures.

Dairy Farm Singapore's regional finance director Tom van der Lee said the rollout is part of the retailer's digital transformation journey: "More customers are adopting cashless payments. Cold Storage alone has seen cashless payment increase by 6 per cent and at Guardian by 3 per cent since Dairy Farm Singapore installed 1,800 unified NETS POS terminals in 2017."