Priscilla Tawie shares her experience of challenging herself to go cashless with GrabPay for five days.
An exciting and liberating experience
Recent years have seen the development of digital infrastructure, focusing on the revolution of technologies that meet the needs of global economic transformations.
In Sarawak, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg has the vision of bringing the state forward digitally.
When he took over in 2017, Abang Johari had the vision of transforming the conventional economy to a digital economy. While the term ‘digital economy’ comprises different sectors, it also looks into transforming the state into a ‘cashless’ economy via cashless transactions.
Grab, a homegrown fintech company, has been actively driving cashless adoption among businesses and consumers in Malaysia.
Through the Retail Digitalisation (ReDI) initiative, Grab collaborates with local councils and partners with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) to spearhead the adoption of digital business models and digital payments among businesses, from your everyday hawker stalls to giant retail chains.
As businesses and shoppers adopt the cashless lifestyle, it has become a thriving payment method.
In fact, there are many ways shoppers can go cashless nowadays, such as paying with debit or credit cards, e-wallet, and more.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of the cashless lifestyle as it allows shoppers to perform contactless transactions and encourage social distancing.
Using GrabPay as an alternative to cash
Grab has been making efforts to expand its ecosystem to include many opportunities. I challenged myself to go cashless with GrabPay for five days to find out if it was really about convenience and savings.
I have been using Grab for many years so I am no stranger to GrabPay. Nevertheless, I thought it might be interesting to be completely cashless.
So there I was with a topped-up GrabPay Wallet and without any other way to pay, which made me nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. Will the shops I visit accept GrabPay? What if they don’t — do I walk out empty-handed and give up on the challenge?
Using Grab as a popular platform, many shops and stalls — from supermarkets to coffee shops and restaurants to convenience stores and more — have adopted digital payment systems to perform transactions.
GrabPay is widely available, thanks to the extensive network of merchants that registered with Grab.
You can shop online as well as offline in stores with GrabPay, and get up to 1.8 per cent back in savings and earn GrabRewards for every GrabPay transaction. You can then use GrabRewards to redeem discount vouchers or offset future payments.
During this challenge, I bought groceries and medicines from the local pharmacy and even a little midweek pick-me-up shopping spree at a department store.
All these transactions were done via GrabPay, where I scanned to pay or showed my QR code to the cashier.
I initially thought I would overspend but I managed to keep track of all my spendings because the transactions were recorded in the app.
I even racked up GrabRewards and was upgraded from Gold membership tier to Platinum, which excited me!
Secure transactions with GrabPay
Aside from shopping, users can also use GrabPay when ordering food via GrabFood in the mobile application.
I find it so convenient that I can order a quick snack or meal when I’m too lazy to cook or head out. The seamless payment system on the app allowed me to make a payment using GrabPay with just a click of a button worry-free.
I can confidently perform online transactions with GrabPay because its multi-layered safety and security features are designed to protect its users from fraud and security risks.
Grab encourages its users to set up their OTP (one time password) and GrabPIN, which assures me that my data and wallet are secured every time I perform a GrabPay transaction.
And as I explored the Grab applications on my phone and discovered many cool features that I’d never realised before. I recently discovered other uses for GrabPay, such as paying bills, paying for movie tickets, sending money and receiving money.
A week of going cashless was liberating because I did not have to worry about carrying my purse — all I needed was my phone. It was also eye-opening to learn that many shops and restaurants were now accepting digital payments. These days, cashless is the way to go as it encourages contactless payments.
My key takeaway from this challenge is that I am now more confident in performing digital transactions. Not only are they better choices for security, but also allow me to save more with every transaction performed.
Nonetheless, Abang Johari’s plan to ensure Kuching, Sarawak lived up to the expectation of adopting into the digital world was a success. At many places, I can see one shop offering various methods to pay online. Chain supermarkets and small mini-marts have also learned to offer the convenience as well.
While there are smaller stalls around that have yet to adapt to the convenience of digital payments, the majority has learned to adapt. What more with the pandemic, many relied on platforms such as Grab to sell goods and services. Who knew that one day, we would gain from the internet more than when just thirty years ago, it was a mere tool for information sharing?
