More than 1 million Singaporean households have claimed CDC vouchers

On 9 January 2022, the five Community Development Councils (CDCs), in partnership with Government Technology Agency (GovTech), announced the addition of an interactive map feature to CDC Vouchers Merchants GoWhere (www.gowhere.gov.sg/cdcvouchers). This feature incorporates information and map data from the Singapore Land Authority’s OneMap to provide residents with an intuitive geographical view of the spread and locations of participating hawkers and heartland merchants around Singapore, in addition to the current search function based on postal code and street name.

This latest enhancement is part of CDCs’ continuing commitment to ensure a convenient and seamless experience for residents as well as hawkers and heartland merchants in this digital CDC Vouchers Scheme. Residents can have sight of the range of participating hawkers and heartland merchants in their location of choice.

More than 1 million Singaporean households have claimed their $100 CDC Vouchers within the first month of the launch. The number of participating hawkers and heartland merchants continues to grow, with more than 12,500 hawkers and heartland merchants onboarded to date.

Ms Low Yen Ling, Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry of Trade and Industry, Chairman of Mayors’ Committee and Mayor of South West District, said, “The CDCs, together with our partner agencies, are enhancing the user experience for the CDC Vouchers Scheme ahead of the festive season as the pool of Singaporeans claiming and spending their CDC vouchers grows. More than 1 million Singaporean households or about three-quarters of Singaporean households have claimed their vouchers in less than a month since the launch of the scheme. We are greatly heartened that Singaporeans are rallying behind and supporting our heartland hawkers and merchants by spending over $28 million worth of vouchers to date. The number of participating outlets has grown to more than 12,500 outlets now. Over 90 percent of these businesses have received CDC Voucher transactions.”

Ms Low added, “We are greatly encouraged by the way our heartland hawkers and merchants have embraced new modes of sales and the digital platform. Their spirit of enterprise and learning is laudable, and their resilience refreshes our heartlands with fresh energy and hope amid the pandemic.”

The CDCs are providing continued support to the digitally less-savvy residents to claim and spend their digital vouchers, as well as hawkers and heartland merchants who are unsure on how to use the RedeemSG Merchant App, through physical touchpoints at CCs, Residents’ Committee (RC) and Residents’ Network (RN) Centres. The CDC Ambassadors and Grassroots volunteers remain at hand to provide one-to-one guidance.

Many participating hawkers and heartland merchants, such as Mdm Rita, 40s, owner of a garment shop, are already seeing benefits from being part of the CDC Vouchers Scheme. “I would like to thank the CDC for onboarding merchants on this programme. Since the launch of CDC vouchers, I have received more customers using the digital vouchers and it has helped to boost the business.”

Mr Chris Liang, 27, a second-generation hawker who just took over his family’s seafood business said, “Having to deal with fresh seafood and other wet items, it was inconvenient for me to receive physical vouchers. We can now easily scan the digital vouchers on the RedeemSG Merchant app itself and receive the payout on the next day. There is no need to count or store physical vouchers for redemption. I am also happy to find my store on CDC Vouchers Merchants GoWhere. Hopefully it will bring me more customers.”

Residents looking to spend their vouchers, like Mdm Sariah Bte Juni, 59, can also now easily discover new participating hawkers and heartland merchants around Singapore with the new interface of CDC Vouchers Merchants GoWhere. “It is very easy to use the CDC Vouchers Merchants GoWhere. I can easily search for the stalls that accept CDC Vouchers based on my current location by just keying in my postal code. It’s a good chance for me to try out and explore new merchants and food stalls in Singapore. It is simple to use and I will definitely continue to use it when I head out to eat and buy my household groceries.”

Interested hawkers and heartland merchants can go online at vouchers.cdc.gov.sg/merchants/info to register their interest, and a CDC Ambassador will reach out to them in the next two weeks. Residents have up to one year – until 31 December 2022 – to claim and use their vouchers.