Visa has launched Where You Shop Matters, an initiative that encourages consumers to support their local businesses, while helping SMEs to go digital following the onset of COVID-19. The initiative is part of Visa’s broader small business strategy and follows commitments the company has made to support 10 million small and micro businesses in Asia Pacific.
As part of Where You Shop Matters, Visa will be working with Shopee to feature more than 2,000 local micro SMEs in its marketplace and create campaigns to enable Visa cardholders to enjoy discounts when they shop at these local merchants. This is in line with Shopee’s own range of support local efforts – particularly, its #SGUnited Shopee Support Local campaign.
“Where You Shop Matters reinforces Visa’s commitment to supporting small businesses in this period of difficulty. The impact for these businesses caused by COVID-19 reinforced the need for Visa to launch Where You Shop Matters to support local businesses in Singapore and help them digitise,” said Kunal Chatterjee, Visa Country Manager for Singapore & Brunei.
“We are confident that Singaporeans will help support the local economy, especially since our study showed that 98 per cent of Singaporean consumers will purchase from local retailers to support small business recovery. More than half of the consumers also indicated that they will shop online more often due to the pandemic.”
The Visa Study also showed that 83 per cent of Singaporean consumers believe it is important for local retailers to have an online presence. In the wake of COVID-19, the insights from this study have shown the importance for SMEs to have a digital presence and adapt with changing consumers’ behaviours in order to do well.
“By going online, SMEs can expand their customer base, not only in Singapore, but in different countries or regions. They will join a global marketplace that can be accessed by millions of Visa cardholders around the globe,” Kunal Chatterjee added.
