Showrooms witness over 40% digital payments for Eid shopping

Shoppers are making payments through cards and mobile financial services (MFS) for around 40%-50% purchases during the Eid-ul-Fitr season, said officials of different brands, fashion houses and banks.

Sellers said customers get around 10%-50% discounts on purchases from certain showrooms for payments through cards and MFSs. Besides, MFSs like bKash, Rocket, and Nagad and credit or debit cards have made lucrative offers on transactions through their platforms during Ramadan.

Md Shamim Sheikh, senior store manager of Apex's largest showroom located in Bashundhara City Shopping Complex, told TBS, "Customers pay more through various bank cards and Mobile Financial Services than cash. Such payments account for around 55% of our transactions."

Mohammad Bablu, showroom manager of Jotey Sharee in Bashundhara City, said, "Digital payments have increased by around 10% during Ramadan this year compared to last year. Customers are making about 50% of purchases through cards or MFSs."

Shoppers said carrying cash during the Eid season is risky, so they prefer shopping with credit or debit cards or MFSs. Currently, almost all the shops in the city markets have facilities for digital payments to be made. They also offer cash back and discounts.

Sayed Ripon, a private company employee, told TBS, "Digital transactions are safe and hassle-free. I do not have to carry cash. Besides, there is a risk of getting counterfeit money during the Eid season, which I can avoid by making digital transactions."

Shaheen Ahmed, owner of the fashion house Anjans, told TBS, "All the fashion houses now have digital payment facilities as purchases through credit and debit cards and MFSs are increasing."

"Payments through a digital system also benefit us as we do not have to deal with cash. So, different brands as well as banks make various discount offers for digital payments. Over 50% of the transactions at fashion houses are digital," said Shaheen Ahmed, who is also president of Fashion Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh.

Photo: Jahir Rayhan

Ashim Saha, senior DGM Operation Management, of SaRa Lifestyle, told TBS, "In recent times, digital payments have garnered immense popularity among consumers. Hence, SaRa Lifestyle has been associated with a variety of digital payment methods, including mobile banking services such as bKash, Nagad, and TAP, bank cards, and payment gateways like SSLCommerz, which have emerged as highly sought after options for e-commerce transactions.

"Our customers can avail different attractive cashback offers on mobile banking and direct discounts on transactions through bank cards like Visa, Mastercard and Amex, which have further bolstered customer interest in digital payments."

Jahangir Alam Shovon, executive director of e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB), told TBS, "50%-60% of payments for branded products that are sold online are digital. Buyers pay in advance by card or through MFS before getting delivery of the product."

Banks, MFS offer discounts on purchases

The City Bank's Amex credit card offers discounts at over 300 lifestyle and over 50 jewellery stores. Besides, they offer up to 50% discounts on online shopping payments.

Customers get 10% cashback on purchases with the NRBC Visa card at any Aarong outlet in the country during Ramadan. The card holders also get special discounts at various lifestyle shops, hotels, online shops and hundreds of e-commerce sites.

Brac Bank customers get attractive discounts at more than 1,000 outlets during Ramadan. The cardholders get 30%-70% discounts at 203 lifestyle shops and 35 jewellery shops. Besides, they get up to 15% cashback on e-commerce purchases at various establishments. Apart from this, they get 25% discount at 44 e-commerce sites.

Prime Bank Visa card and Mastercard holders are getting 15%-50% discount on lifestyle stores. They also enjoy up to Tk10,000 cashback on purchasing products of different brands.

UCB Bank customers get a 25% discount on shopping at Aarong and 15% discount at Apex, Artisan, Yellow, Bata, and Time Zone.

Customers avail 20% instant cashback on payments through Dutch-Bangla Bank's Nexus-Pay and Rocket app.

bKash customers get 5% cashback on payments at Facebook shops and up to Tk300 instant cashback at online shops.

Nagad offers a chance to win hundreds of prizes, including BMW and Toyota cars, by payments of Tk500 or more being made at certain shops during Ramadan. Apart from this, up to Tk2,000 cashback is available on any purchase payment. Besides, customers can get up to Tk100 cashback by paying Tk1,000 on a specified number of groceries.

Soumya Basu, Visa country manager for Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, told TBS, "During the holy month of Ramadan and in celebrating Eid, we have seen that consumers shop through the season and spend across multiple categories of daily and discretionary purchases, increasingly trying contactless payments too. To help shoppers get the best of Visa benefits, we are introducing offers across high-spend categories.

"Visa cardholders can avail in-store discounts of 30-35% in jewellery and hotels and resorts and between 10% and 20% in categories like fashion and lifestyle, furniture, electronics, and home appliances, etc. We also have offers on e-commerce where consumers can enjoy cashback and discounts of 5% to 20% in categories like grocery, retail, and travel, in addition to our ongoing discounts on utility bill payments and tuition fees, and admission fees at educational institutions. We hope this gives our consumers the best of benefits during this auspicious time."

According to data from the central bank, customers of various banks spent Tk2,625 crore through 51.70 lakh card transactions in April last year on the occasion of Ramadan. Moreover, customers made e-commerce transactions involving over Tk1,000 crore through 36.65 lakh transactions using cards in that month.

A review of last year's figure shows that card transactions have increased in almost all cases compared to the previous year. People involved in this sector think that transactions through cards can break all previous records on the occasion of Eid this year.

Mashrur Arefin, managing director and CEO of City Bank, told TBS, "Compared to other years, the tendency of customers to make payments by using cards and merchant points has increased.

"Customers spent Tk401 crore through our cards and Tk695 crore on merchant points during the entire month of Ramadan last year. They have spent Tk305 crore through cards and Tk510 crore on merchant points till the 18th of Ramadan this year. Hopefully, this trend will continue in the remaining days of Ramadan."