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Heartland businesses go cashless, but teething problems remain

Heartland shops have grown used to e-payments after a pandemic-era push

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Goh Ruoxue

Published Wed, Oct 11, 2023 · 03:00 PM

Micro-retailers mostly find electronic payments to be convenient: fast, simple, and with the funds going directly into their accounts. PHOTO: YONG HUI TING, BT

ELECTRONIC payments were slow to take off among small heartland retailers, but after a Covid-era government drive, 93 per cent of heartland enterprises had adopted these by end-2022.

Such digital payments are often enabled by QR codes such as SGQR and PayNow QR, which support payments from PayNow, DBS PayLah! and other banks’ e-wallets, with funds going directly into merchants’ bank accounts.

This e-payment revolution has won over many micro-retailers – but still has its share of teething issues.

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