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By Serene Luo
NETS is targeting the heartland to widen the use of its cashless transaction technology.
The company wants to reach out to businesses in the suburbs not traditionally thought of as its users, including wet markets, coffee shops and hawker centres.
The Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore) is installing wireless equipment at these spots so that contactless CashCards can be used to pay for fresh chicken, vegetables or even fried carrot cake.
One business which has made the move to Nets is the bustling Rasa Rasa coffee shop and Thai seafood restaurant near the Causeway.
The eatery was wired up to accept contactless CashCards just over six months ago to cater to the numerous motorists who zip through daily.
'The new system made it more convenient for them to pay, instead of having to fumble with coins,' said the coffee shop's owner, Mr Pang Yap Chung, 44.
Nets' chief executive officer Poh Mui Hoon said the cashless payment system should be 'where the average Singaporean goes every day'.
She did not give more details on the amount of money being spent on the project nor the cost of the service to the hawkers and business owners, saying only that 'the heartland group will have a heartland rate'.
Sales executive Vincent Kessler, 28, said he still prefers to pay in cash 'because I am a creature of habit'.
'But if I am buying, say, a larger number of packets of rice, I might want to use Nets,' he said.
Despite the convenience of the cashless system, some small retailers such as hawkers said they may still need cash to pay for the raw materials they buy daily, such as vegetables, fishcakes or eggs.
But for Mr Pang, besides giving his coffee shop a more cosmopolitan and 'modern' feel, having Nets has 'significantly' increased his bottom line, he said in Mandarin.
'People tend to order more food and drinks now,' he said.
'In the past, they were limited by how much cash they had brought. Now, they order more and pay by card.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on February 11, 2009.
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