Singapore retailers roll out integrated POS terminals

Some 2,000 integrated point-of-sale (POS) will be rolled out in more than 650 retail stores across Singapore, supporting various payment options including Samsung Pay and Apple Pay.

Local payments services provider Network for Electronic Transfers of Singapore (Nets) and United Overseas Bank would install the terminals at retail brands under the Dairy Farm Singapore Group.

A pilot involving the “unified POS systems” was carried out in November last year at two supermarket outlets Giant and Cold Storage, Nets said in a statement Thursday. It added that these terminals would be further deployed across all outlets under Dairy Farm brands, which included Market Place, Jasons, 7-Eleven, as well as Guardian Health and Beauty.

According to Nets, the integrated POS terminals reduced the time spent at checkout counters by 20% to 30%, or an estimated 9 to 11 seconds. They were projected to generate savings of 106 man-hours a day for all the stores, it said.

In addition to credit and debit cards, the terminals also supported payments via Nets’ own electronic payment services Nets and Nets FlashPay, as well as Android Pay, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, UOB Mighty Pay, and EZ-Link. In addition, the systems could process NFC-enabled loyalty card, Passion.

Shoppers would be able to pay using NFC if their payment mode supported the contactless technology and one consolidated receipt would be generated, instead of the typical multiple copies. The integrated terminals also removed any confusion over which system to use for which payment, Nets said.

It added that the partnership would help boost the Singapore government’s smart nation initiative and aim to drive cashless payments in the city-state.

Choo Wan Sim, UOB’s Singapore head of cards and payments, said: “UOB fully appreciates the need for merchants to offer their customers the full range of payment options. However, the different terminals required to receive ATM, credit, debit, and contactless cards are not only cumbersome for the merchant, but confusing for customers, particularly those who pay at self-checkout kiosks.

“With the unified POS terminal, that clutter is removed and payment is simplified and sped up,” Choo said.

She added that all UOB POS terminals would be replaced with the integrated terminals by year-end.