OCBC Bank has seen a surge in the use of PayNow by its small and medium enterprise (SME) customers, among whom seven of every 10 have registered for the funds transfer service. The volume of PayNow transactions by the bank’s SME customers in the first 10 months of 2020 was more than five times the total volume of transactions in 2019. It is against this backdrop that the bank has launched merchant app OCBC OneCollect to facilitate PayNow collections.

A key feature of OCBC OneCollect is its notification function. An in-app notification is immediately sent to SME owners and their frontline staff once a PayNow QR payment is successfully credited. This would benefit SME owners like Mr Choo Teng Yeow, the owner of JZ Trading, which sells joss paper and ceremonial products. He said, “We used to rely on our customers to show us their PayNow confirmation screens. So as more people started using PayNow, we also have had more cases of people showing us old screenshots and pretending that they have paid. With OCBC OneCollect, I don’t have to worry about this anymore. Once the app sends me a notification, I know for sure that the money has been received.”

Convenience and time savings

The OCBC OneCollect app, which is available in English and Chinese, offers convenience and time savings that SMEs will appreciate, especially since they often operate under resource constraints.

1. Eliminating cumbersome refund processes

Prior to the launch of OCBC OneCollect app, the refunding process could be cumbersome for merchants.  The cashier either refunds the customer by drawing cash from the till or, if there is insufficient cash, asks the business owner – who may not even be on hand – to refund the customer through other means.

With the OCBC OneCollect app, the refund process is straightforward. The cashier simply selects the transaction and the refund is made digitally. Alternatively, to keep customers from keying in an incorrect amount, a unique QR code for each transaction can be generated using the app.

2. Reduction of manual processing

PayNow QR payments, made across an SME’s multiple outlets, are now automatically consolidated and reconciled. These transactions can be viewed in one place – on OCBC OneCollect – versus ploughing through a bank statement that may include many other business transactions. The SME owner thereby saves on the time needed to manually do these tasks, while staying updated on the cashflow situation.

Ms Caryn Lim, co-founder of The Green Bar, a salad bar with outlets at Millenia Walk and Alexandra Retail Centre, said, “My daily tally of transactions is much easier now with the app. It captures all the PayNow transactions and separates them by outlet, which is a useful and time-saving feature. I like having the option of generating a unique QR code in real-time which eliminates the need for our customers to input the payment amount. It is quite common for the wrong amount to be keyed in. A customer once mistakenly paid $1500 instead of $15 and it was very difficult for us to track down the customer to provide the refund.”

Mr Melvyn Low, Head, Global Transaction Banking, OCBC Bank, said, “OCBC OneCollect is especially relevant in this post-Covid-19 new normal where contactless payment is now expected of all businesses. The app is integrated with PayNow and serves to make the process of collecting PayNow QR payments, through the mobile or SGQR, even more seamless. Start-ups and SMEs that do not have any e-payments solution yet will find this to be an accessible entry point into using PayNow. With this app, we hope to encourage SMEs to take the necessary step of digitalising their collections process.”

OCBC Bank’s SME customers can register for OCBC OneCollect via the OCBC Business Mobile Banking App or through OCBC Velocity, the bank’s digital banking portal for business customers.

To find out more about OCBC OneCollect, please visit our website.

Customer Quotes

JZ Trading

Mr Choo Teng Yeow, is the owner of JZ Trading, which sells joss paper and ceremonial products.

He began using OCBC OneCollect earlier this year to generate a QR code on the app for each transaction, which his customers scan and pay using PayNow.

He said, “It is important for businesses to go digital. Our younger customers don’t even carry cash anymore so it is important that we accept digital payments.  But we used to rely on our customers to show us their PayNow confirmation screens, so as more people started using PayNow, we also had more cases of people showing us old screenshots, and pretending that they have paid. With OCBC OneCollect, I don’t have to worry about this anymore. Once the app sends me a notification, I know for sure that the money has been received. I also like how easy it was to download and use the app. My cashier is approaching her 60s, but she has learned to use it as well.”

Ukulele Movement

Mr Simon Mok and Ms Glyn Chan are the founders of ukulele specialty store Ukulele Movement which sells ukuleles, ukulele accessories, and organises ukulele lessons. Rather than having their customers scan their SGQR code, the husband and wife team prefer to have their cashier generate a real-time QR code using OCBC OneCollect for every transaction.

They said, “Ukuleles can cost a few hundred dollars on average so we prefer that our cashiers be the ones to input the price and generate a QR code that our customers just scan. It reduces the chance of a customer paying us the wrong amount, and it also makes the payment process more hassle free so the customer experience improves overall.”

“In addition, the app is user friendly. The interface is so intuitive that we didn’t need a manual to get started using it, and it was easy for our employees to pick up.”

Sindy Durian

Mr Jonah Wong is part of the second generation behind his family’s business, Sindy Durian. He is the Managing Director of the business and, together with his business partner and General Manager Mr Theodore Tung, he manages the business’ outlet in 111 Somerset which focuses on durian confectionaries including ice cream, Swiss rolls and durian puffs. OCBC OneCollect is being used at this outlet to facilitate PayNow collections.

They said, “The notification feature is very useful. Previously, because our cashiers do not have access to the business’ bank account, they would have to WhatsApp either of us to check our bank account in order to confirm that a PayNow payment is in. But now, OCBC OneCollect enables us to give our cashiers access to the app, and it immediately notifies them when a payment has been successful. It is much more convenient and saves them time, and that is very important because we usually have just 1 person at the outlet.”

The Green Bar

Ms Caryn Lim, co-founder of The Green Bar, a salad bar with outlets at Millenia Walk and Alexandra Retail Centre, has started to use OCBC OneCollect at both outlets.

She said, “My daily tally of transactions is much easier now with the app. It captures all the PayNow transactions and separates them by outlet, which is a useful and time-saving feature. I also like having the option of generating a QR code in real-time which eliminates the need for our customers to input the payment amount. It is quite common that the wrong amount is keyed in. A customer once mistakenly paid $1500 instead of $15 and it was very difficult for us to track down the customer and make a refund.”