More than 650,000 households have claimed latest tranche of CDC vouchers
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Ms Low Yen Ling, Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (left), interacting with exhibitors at booths at the Singapore Heartland Enterprise Summit on June 27.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
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SINGAPORE - More than 650,000 Singaporean households have claimed the latest tranche of $300 CDC vouchers
Together with the $500 vouchers distributed in January – which about 1.3 million households claimed – each Singaporean household will receive a total of $800 in 2024.
Between its launch in December 2021 and the end of 2024, the CDC vouchers scheme is expected to spur $900 million of spending at participating hawkers and heartland businesses, said Ms Low at the Singapore Heartland Enterprise Summit on June 27.
To date, the CDC vouchers scheme has catalysed close to $650 million of spending at participating heartland merchants and hawker stalls.
Singaporean households have used more than $1 billion of CDC vouchers across the last four tranches.
More than 23,000 hawkers and heartland merchants are now on the CDC vouchers scheme, which has helped them to jump onto digital platforms as well as increase customer reach.
“Today, more than nine in 10 heartland shops across Singapore offer at least one e-payment solution, while about two-thirds have adopted digital tools and platforms such as Google Business Profiles, Carousell and Shopback,” said Ms Low, who is also Senior Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth.
The CDC vouchers scheme was first introduced in June 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic to help lower-income households defray their daily expenses, while supporting local merchants and hawkers affected by the pandemic. It was expanded to all households in December 2021 to thank Singaporeans for their solidarity during the pandemic, and to aid heartland businesses’ recovery.
To further encourage innovation, the Federation of Merchants’ Associations Singapore organises the Heartland Innovation Challenge (HIC), which helps businesses tackle pressing challenges by co-creating innovative solutions with tertiary student teams.
Enterprises that took part in the challenge include UnidBox Hardware, which has five outlets selling household and hardware items.
“Programmes like HIC connect us with polytechnic students who help us with innovating our business,” said Mr Wong Hing Kong, 51, who started the first UnidBox store in Hougang in 2015.
A result of this initiative is an “experience corner” at his newest MacPherson store. There, customers can try out tools such as hammers and drills and get assistance from staff before deciding whether to buy them.
“For instance, if you’re not sure how to install a kitchen cabinet hinge, you can come to our experience corner and our staff will teach you how to do so and what tools you will need,” said Mr Wong.
He said the CDC vouchers scheme has helped business “a lot”.
“We can get an average extra revenue of $800 daily per outlet just from customers using the vouchers.”
