Old Chang Kee Adopts Contactless Payment Using NETS ‘Flashpay’ CashCard Throughout All Its 75 Stores Islandwide


Quick Service Retailer’s Win-Win Proposition With NETS Cashcard

Singapore, Monday, 27 April 2009 – In its latest efforts towards making Singapore a cashless hub in the region, NETS, Singapore’s leading electronic payments provider, is partnering with home-grown retailer, Old Chang Kee, to enable quick and easy payment options to Singaporeans. This initiative will resonate well with the time-pressed urbanities, who just need to flash their NETS CashCard to purchase their favorite snacks.

Paying for a curry puff or a savoury stick of fried sotong head at Old Chang Kee will be a breezy affair in the near future, when the chain goes cashless with NETS' contactless CashCard technology. Gone will be the days of standing in queues, worrying over cash in pockets or fumbling over coins to make payments at retailers like Old Chang Kee. This contactless offering by NETS is its latest project to address consumers’ demands for a quick bite from a local shop while on-the-go.

For retailers, the cashless transaction technology of the NETS CashCard will help reduce their processing time by making it hassle-free and minimising operations and collections at the cash counter. Further, hardly any training is needed for the operators, saving time for both the operator and the customer.

Ani Dinasan, NETS’ General Manager, Merchant Partner Group, comments: “NETS strives to steer cashless payments in Singapore by offering the best payment solutions to its customers and merchants. Our vision is to constantly push technology frontiers to develop new smart and savvy payment solutions that will make life great for all.

Partnership with quick service retailers like Old Chang Kee, will help us serve both our merchants and customers better. In this effort, NETS’ is focusing on its competency in contactless payment technology to bring about a paradigm shift in the payment experience across the island.”

William Lim, CEO of Old Chang Kee, says, “Being contactless will help us attend to the needs of our busy and mobile city dwelling customers better. Firstly, the contactless option will provide our customers with faster payment alternatives and better discounts on payments made through the contactless CashCard during designated promotion hours. Secondly, staff can offer faster service and have quick turn-around for our products and services, thus, reducing queues during peak hours. Also, NETS offers better cash management by avoiding depositing the earnings in the banks each day. We aim not only to improve our traditional food recipes but also our operations to serve our customers more efficiently!”

With some 4.5 million active NETS CashCards in circulation today, the NETS CashCard is one of the most commonly accepted prepaid stored value cards in Singapore. Beyond ERP, it is accepted at more than 90% of carparks in Singapore and 35, 000 retail points and school canteens around the island. For time-crunched Singaporeans, the NETS CashCard serves as the ultimate tool of convenience for micropayments.

Finally, using a NETS contactless CashCard will also open the opportunity for Old Chang Kee to understand its customers better. The company is considering branding special edition NETS CashCards as loyalty cards, which could enable it to understand customers' buying patterns better.

After piloting the technology at its Tiong Bahru Plaza outlet in early 2009, Old Chang Kee now has plans to roll it out at its 70 or so outlets dotted all over the island later in the year.