Qoo10 Singapore launches new cashless payment system, QPay

Not long after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s speech at this year’s National Day Rally – where he spoke about the need for Singapore to go cashless – online marketplace Qoo10 has launched a new cashless payment system, called QPay.

QPay lets shoppers pay for their purchases by using the Qoo10 app to scan a QR code at a merchant’s brick-and-mortar store. Discount coupons from Qoo10 can be applied to the price of the item, and payment can be made using Visa, Mastercard or eNETS.

According to Hyun-wook Cho, country manager of Qoo10 Singapore, since QPay’s launch on 22 September, some 1,200 merchants have already signed up. This includes merchants that sell electronic goods to the Singapore Red Cross, while hotels such as Holiday Inn and Amara have used QPay for mooncake purchases.

“We believe that the solution to cashless payment is not just developing another payment gateway but tapping on the existing payment systems to reach the optimum capabilities of a cashless transaction,” said Cho.

Positive feedback

Several merchants that sell electronic products, such as Newstar Electronics and ModernTech, were one of the first few to try the new payment system at the recent COMEX show in early September.

Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore, Johnny Ge, 30, manager of ModernTech, said that he found the QPay system very helpful for his business, and recommended it for its ability to make credit card payments.

“This helps me save money because I don’t need to apply for usage of a credit card payment terminal and keep up with maintenance. It also helps customers, because they can use their Qoo10 account to get discounts through coupons,” Ge said.

Wen Yuan Xing, 31, manager of Newstar Electronics, said that around 120 of his customers responded positively to the new system at his pop-up store the recent COMEX show.

But, he added that “around 10 per cent of customers” didn’t want to use it because they found it too troublesome to go through the process of downloading the Qoo10 app and creating an account, while some didn’t want to link their credit cards to their accounts.

From 9 to 15 October, Qoo10 will be holding their “Qoo10 10.10 Shopping Evolution” at Plaza Singapura to showcase the new QPay system as well as conduct giveaways for shoppers at the mall.

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• New service in Singapore lets you pay someone to queue for you

• Robots at M Social Singapore hotel help ease hospitality manpower crunch

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