Visa reports on contactless and mobile payments adoption in Singapore

CASHLESS NATION: Singaporeans most commonly use contactless cards for convenience store shopping

More than eight in ten consumers in Singapore now use contactless cards (82%) and the widespread use of and preference for contactless card payments is one of the key drivers behind the country’s “shift towards becoming a cashless nation”, according to a Visa report.

The latest edition of the card network’s Consumer Payment Attitudes Study also shows that contact and contactless card payments (97%) have now overtaken cash (82%) as the most-used payment method in Singapore and that 95% of consumers in the country make payments using debit and credit cards.

Singaporeans most commonly use contactless cards to pay for convenience store purchases (54%), retail shopping (53%) and supermarket purchases (52%), followed by public transport (33%) and taxis and ride-sharing (28%), with 89% of contactless card holders saying they make contactless payments at least once a week and 41% saying they do so at least four times a week, the study found.

Mobile adoption

“While it is not the most widely used method, mobile contactless payments (52%) and QR code payments (48%) continue to increase among Singapore consumers,” Visa says.

“Since the pandemic, mobile contactless payments have seen greater use for public transport, petrol, as well as food and dining. On the other hand, QR code payments are increasingly being used for retail shopping and convenience store purchases.”

“With the abundance of different cashless payment methods available in Singapore, nearly two in three consumers (63%) have tried to go cashless. More than two in five (42%) have succeeded in doing so for at least a week,” Visa adds.

“Among those who have not yet made the attempt, three in five are confident they can survive for at least the next few days, while nearly half (48%) are confident they can survive for the next week. Two in four Singapore consumers (39%) are also carrying less cash in their wallets due to greater reliance on contactless payments.”

The Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study was conducted with 1,000 Singaporeans in October 2022 as part of a larger regional research project with more than 6,500 consumers across Southeast Asia.

Visa reports on contactless and mobile payments adoption in Singapore was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.