Almost Half of All CDC Vouchers Were Used for Food & Beverages

Singaporeans love a good discount anytime, anywhere.

This is why in less than five months since the government launched the Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers in December last year, more than 1.1 million households or 93 per cent of all Singaporean households have claimed their vouchers.

Over this period, close to $85 million has been spent, which is 70 per cent of the total amount of vouchers allocated.

Majority Spent on F&B

But even more so than price slashing, we love some delicious-tasting food.

And that’s evident in how 46 per cent of the CDC vouchers spent were on food and beverage at hawker centres, coffee shops, cafes and restaurants.

Meanwhile, another 42 per cent were spent on other trades and services at Housing Board shops as well as wet and dry markets, while the remaining 12 per cent were used at small minimarts.

Using this information, subsequent trances of the CDC vouchers in 2023 and 2024 will then have better policy decisions, said South West District Mayor Low Yen Ling on Wednesday (11 May).

Helping S’poreans Cope with Price Increases

Apart from helping to boost heartland businesses, the $200 worth of vouchers to be given out to each family in each of the next two years will help Singaporeans cope with the goods and services tax (GST) increase from 7 per cent to 9 per cent.

Currently, there are more than 16,000 hawkers and heartland merchants on the scheme, though the number is set to go up with new sign-ups.

Some heartland businesses were a little apprehensive about participating in the scheme at first but many have also overcome the fear of technology.

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Increase in Footfall 

Within the first two weeks of the launch of the 2021 vouchers, the Ang Mo Kio Constituency Merchants Association reported a 15 per cent to 20 per cent rise in customer footfall.

Over in the west, Bukit Gombak Traders’ Association saw a boost of 10 per cent to 20 per cent in revenue and customers.

Shamsher Ali, operations manager at Habibie Seafood in Tampines Street 81, said only two of his 10 staff are trained to use the RedeemSG system for the digital vouchers.

Due to them being short-handed, there were even fewer who wanted to learn how to use the system.

The coffee shop stall, which joined the scheme three months ago, has seen up to 15 voucher transactions in a good day.

In February, Jin Jin Departmental Store, which is also located in Tampines, joined the scheme. The store, which sells electrical appliances and does alterations for clothes, managed to adopt the system with relative ease.

It has so far collected about $70 worth of vouchers and the owner hopes the business will improve further with the launch of the latest vouchers.

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Featured Image: cdc.gov.sg