US gaming accessories company Razer is taking a further step in rolling out its e-wallet Razer Pay in more markets across Southeast Asia.
The company announced today it has partnered up with Singapore-based electronic payment service provider NETS Group to launch its Razer Pay in the city-state in the first quarter of 2019, making Singapore the second market in Southeast Asia where Razer Pay will be made available, after its Malaysian launch in July.
Through the partnership with NETS, Razer Pay will be accepted at more than 40,000 NETS-enabled point-of-sales terminals in Singapore.
In addition to the partnership with NETS, Razer said in a press release that it’s also working with other household brands, including Reebonz, Sistic, SP Group, and WTS Travel, in tie-ups that would leverage on Razer’s online payment expertise to make it easy for the locals to deal with payments.
For instance, Razer and Singapore Group are integrating payment directly into the Razer Pay app so that utility bills could be easily be payed from a resident’s fingertips, sans bank runs or even QR code-based payment hassles.
Its co-founder and CEO Tan Min-Liang, who is a Singaporean, said in a statement that Razer has “seen tremendous interest from businesses in Singapore keen to collaborate” in terms of its e-payment framework. “This is evidence that Singapore’s cashless ambition is still alive and kicking, and no existing single provider has managed to satisfy all of these merchants,” he added.
Another e-wallet app in Singapore that has garnered some market share is Southeast Asian O2O player Grab’s GrabPay, which it has linked up with deals marketplace Fave.
While such companies might be gaining steam, a recent report surveying online and offline purchases in 2017 has revealed that Singaporeans still prefer to use credit cards as opposed to e-wallets.
The report also predicts that in 2018, for online or e-commerce purchases in Asia Pacific area, mobile payment will be the top payment choice, explaining the current e-wallet boom driven by initiatives like Razer Pay, Grab’s GrabPay and GoPay by Go-Jek amongst other players across the region.
Editor: Ben Jiang