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Grab partners IMDA and One Kampong Gelam to digitalise historic precinct

Singapore, 06 March 2018 – Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand transportation and mobile payments platform, together with Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) and One Kampong Gelam (OKG), have announced a partnership to drive digital transformation of the historic quarter.

As part of the efforts to digitalise Kampong Glam, enhance the digital capabilities of retailers, and transform the visitor experience in the precinct, Grab will work with OKG to roll out the GrabPay cashless mobile platform to over 600 of Kampong Glam’s merchants in phases. Additionally, both parties will identify and deploy pilot initiatives to solve mobility-related issues as well as support marketing initiatives to raise awareness of Kampong Glam’s offerings.

“We believe that the use of digital solutions in Kampong Glam will add to the historical precinct’s vibrancy and generate greater economic activity for its merchants. With over 81 million app downloads across the region including more than 4 million users in Singapore, we hope to encourage more among our user base, including those visiting from around the region, to visit places like Kampong Glam to discover the rich culture and heritage of Singapore,” said Lim Kell Jay, Head of Grab Singapore.

“By working with IMDA and precinct associations such as OKG, we can learn and draw on their deep understanding of on-ground challenges faced by merchants and visitors alike to pilot novel solutions. For example, we know that merchants would like to better keep track of their cash flows and visitors desire more accurate pick-up/drop-off points, and are looking forward to combine our strengths in payments and transport to benefit a precinct. Based on learnings from this collaboration, we are excited to see how Kampong Glam’s digital makeover efforts could be extended beyond the neighbourhood,” he added.

“We are proud to partner local digital champions like Grab, to see how traditional businesses and modern technologies can work together to create a better experience for everyone. Together with Grab, we will help merchants better understand how they can fully reap the benefits of going cashless and leverage omni-channel marketing. We believe that this partnership would help increase business activities in the neighbourhood, while ensuring that visitors get to enjoy the best of Kampong Glam,” said Saeid Labbafi, Founder and Chairman, One Kampong Gelam.

“We adopted GrabPay around a month ago and have already seen an improvement in sales. Many of our customers are Grab users – they use the app to travel and pay for services. They also prefer paying with GrabPay because they get to earn GrabRewards points for every transaction. It’s a win-win for customers and merchants like us as it drives more traffic to our restaurant,” said Aina Zulkarnain, Marketing Director, Kaw Kaw SG, one of the early adopters of GrabPay in Kampong Glam.

With GrabPay, consumers are not just able to access transport services, but all of the most important everyday services, whether it’s paying for food and drinks, the latest gadgets in shops or making transfers to friends. Today, Grab has already onboarded more than 2000 merchants in Singapore. For a list of GrabPay merchants in Singapore, visit https://www.grab.com/sg/grabpay-merchant-list/

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