Heartland merchants are experiencing a significant boost in weekend earnings as consumers increasingly opt for cashless payments. Since the launch of POSB’s Support Our Heartlands initiative in August 2024, neighbourhood businesses—including wet market and hawker stall owners—have seen a remarkable 40% increase in weekend earnings through PayLah! transactions.
Wet Markets Lead the Way
Wet market stallholders have seen the biggest gains, with PayLah! usage tripling among customers and total spending nearly doubling. This shift towards cashless payments highlights the growing trend of consumers scanning-to-pay at their local stalls, embracing the convenience of digital transactions.
Cashback Rewards Driving Adoption
The Support Our Heartlands campaign offers over two million cashback rewards and discounts from August to December 2024, benefiting more than 22,000 heartland shops, wet markets, hawker stalls, and Sheng Siong supermarkets. To date, customers have redeemed more than one million cashback rewards for their meals, groceries, and everyday items. Notably, 39% of these redemptions came from senior citizens or individuals earning less than SGD 2,500 a month.
Exclusive PayLah! Deals
Every Saturday, shoppers can enjoy up to SGD 3 cashback when they use PayLah! at participating heartland shops, wet markets, and hawker stalls, with 75,000 redemptions available each week. Look out for the ‘POSB Support Our Heartland Shops’ wobblers at participating merchants and the PayLah! Scan to Pay stickers at hawker stalls. Additionally, PayLah! users can save SGD 3 on eggs and rice at any Sheng Siong supermarket throughout the month, capped at 50,000 redemptions for each item.
Expanding Digital Payments in the Heartlands
To further encourage digital payments, POSB has launched a door-to-door merchant outreach programme in selected neighbourhoods. Volunteers from the bank engage heartland merchants on digital literacy topics, helping them adopt cashless solutions. Over the past month, volunteers have reached out to more than 100 merchants, and the programme is set to expand in 2025.
Community Engagement with POSB Getai Events
The success of the Support Our Heartlands initiative was celebrated at the POSB Your Neighbourhood Getai event on October 13, 2024, at Toa Payoh West Market and Food Centre. Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance, Chee Hong Tat, joined the festivities, which combined entertainment with digital literacy and anti-scam education for seniors.
Since mid-2023, POSB has hosted eight Getai shows, reaching over 3,000 seniors.
