Yahoo: 54% of Singapore users say cash is their least preferred payment method

Remember the entire EZ-Link and SimplyGo commotion, which cost Singaporean taxpayers a cool S$40 million, and it ended with us still devoid of a properly unified transport payment card or solution?

That experience was a great exercise in understanding the Singaporean appetite and pace for digital upgrades. It showed that Singaporeans felt strongly about balancing their growing pains and need for conveniences. If only it weren't so expensive to learn.

Now, there’s an even closer look at which Singaporeans are more welcoming of an already digital world. Yahoo Singapore commissioned a study with Milieu Insight to learn about Singapore’s usage of digital apps, payments, and services. The study was conducted earlier this year, and its key findings are now revealed (April 2024).

Titled Clicks and Shifts: Yahoo Singapore Digital Study, the survey gathered responses from 1,500 users in Singapore across various age groups and income brackets to see if there are any differences in their usage or attitudes towards digital conveniences.

Below are some of the key findings from the study:

Digital adoption is going as planned, albeit warily

84% of surveyed respondents said they use mobile apps and digital services for daily activities “often”, and 58% said that the technological advancements in apps and digital services are “at the right pace”.

However, a significant portion of respondents are still wary about the challenges and concerns posed by these tools. 

64% said the benefits (of mobile apps and digital services) outweigh the challenges and potential disruptions to daily life. 32% were undecided, with 4% disagreeing outright.

Only about half (54%) of the respondents said these apps and services improved their quality of life.

Cash is less of a king, now

Despite severe digital payment outages still fresh in the collective memories of Singaporeans, about 34% of respondents still ranked contactless credit, debit, and prepaid cards as their most preferred payment method. These methods are closely followed by e-wallets and other digital payment services (31%). 

More surprising is that 54% of respondents chose cash as their least preferred payment method. 

A deeper look across different age groups revealed that 41% of Millennials preferred contactless credit, debit, or prepaid cards. In comparison, 38% of Gen Z respondents said they’d rather use e-wallets and digital payment services.

Gen X users were split between both choices (30%), as they did not prefer contactless cards over e-wallets and digital payments, or vice versa.

31% of Baby Boomers surveyed said they prefer paying in cash. This notion was further cemented by the 33% of Baby Boomers who said cash is their least preferred payment method (much lower than the average of 54% mentioned above).

Ride-hailing services are integral, but cost plays a huge role

Of its 1,500 respondents, 57% use ride-hailing apps once a week, and more than half (52%) use them up to three times a week.

When choosing between public transport and ride-hailing services, 75% of respondents said that cost was one major point of consideration. 58% also considered convenience and accessibility (presumably, for the places they need to be at), among other concerns like travel duration (54%), distance (36%), and comfort (26%). 

Of the least concern was environmental impact, with only 10% actually wondering if public transport is the better option for going green.

When the data is broken down by age group, 70% of millennials use these ride-hailing apps once a week, which is much higher than the average of the group surveyed.

Millennials were also more likely to prioritise comfort and travel duration than other age groups (31% and 59% of these respondents put these down as concerns, respectively), making them the top users of ride-hailing apps. 

Cost, however, was a huge concern to most Gen Z (78%), Gen X (80%), and Baby Boomers (84%). Millennials do care, but only 67% of them indicated cost as a factor for consideration when calling ride-hailing services.

Tapping using Apple Pay, Samsung Galaxy Watch, or EZ-Link card?

More than half (57%) of respondents who use public transport said they use either a mobile app or e-wallet for payment, while 43% did not.

64% of app and e-wallet users use these services to pay fares. 56% of the app and e-wallet users also use them to check transaction histories, while 50% use these payment methods to check balances of stored value in cards. 39% use these apps to top up stored-value cards.

Among those who do not use apps or e-wallets for payment, 76% rely on physical cards. 21% said the card has an automatic top-up function, while 10% preferred using cash for top-ups. That likely means that the rest who use cards don’t rely on stored-value cards, since neither automatic nor cash top-ups are needed.

Overall, 33% of respondents preferred physical cards or tokens when paying for public transport, and 36% said they pay the fares through smartphones or smartwatches.

Boomers wanna take it slow

Among the surveyed respondents, 60% of Baby Boomers told the study that the pace of technological advancement is too fast.

In contrast, 43% of Gen X, 36% of Millennials, and 25% of Gen Z feel the same way.

Despite the challenge, Baby Boomers frequently use mobile apps and digital services, with 72% reporting usage often (just slightly below the national average of 84% across all age groups).

However, only 49% of Baby Boomers actually think that the benefits outweigh possible challenges and disruptions, which is much lower than the national average of 64%.

The average EDMW user with "20k celery a month"

Socio-economic differences can influence the adoption rates of digital services, with monthly earning power and education levels affecting how frequently someone in Singapore uses these tools.

The study found that 90% of surveyed users with household incomes of S$12,000 and above and 88% of postgraduate degree holders use mobile apps and digital services “often”. 

Among surveyed users with combined household incomes of S$3,000 or lower, 76% said they use these services “often”.

In contrast, 40% of users with no formal education said they use apps often.

The bigger differences lie in the perception of using these tools. 83% of the respondents from the first group (household income above S$12,000) think that the benefits of using mobile apps and digital services far outweigh potential challenges and disruptions.

In contrast, only 48% of surveyed users with household incomes of S$3,000 or lower feel the same way.

Editor’s Note: We reached out to Yahoo Singapore to find out how often is “often”, as used in this study. Yahoo said that respondents were asked to choose between options of "very often", "often", "sometimes", "rarely", and "very rarely". The figures that represent "often" above include both "very often" and "often" respondents.

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