Cash-less transaction skyrocketed amid Eid shopping

Business Desk :
Four out of 10 payment transactions in the city’s skyrocketing Eid markets were made by digital payment tools like Visa, Mastercard and bKash App centring Eid shopping.
In last year’s Eid shopping, three out of 10 payment transactions were made through digital payment tools like Visa, MasterCard and bKash app, which indicates that more people are now moving towards a cashless environment, according to a study.
The survey was conducted among 350 Eid shoppers by the DIGITAL FINANCE team in association with Bangladesh Journalists’ Foundation For Consumers and Investors-BJFCI from April 15 to April 22 in Nayapalton, Taltola, Panthopath, Kawranbazar, Bashundhara and Shantinagor areas.
The main reasons behind this shift in payment culture are the convenient and quick payment methodology most shoppers have learned from their experiences during the Covid pandemic days and the cashback offers by operators, according to the report released by the BJFCI.
In the pandemic era, when people’s movement was restricted by lockdown, MFS appeared as a boon for them. They avoided cash and preferred bKash app to pay and receive money keeping physical distance from others. Cashback offers and discount offered by the sellers for payment through mobile financial services (MFS) encourage shoppers to pay through MFS like bKash, Rocket, Nagad and others, the report noted.
The respondents in the survey were both male and female shoppers aged between 20 to 50 years and residents of different districts. Of them, 260 shoppers were girls and women.
Most of them said that they are familiar with bKash app since the lockdowns period and now using it in Eid shopping to enjoy cash benefits. Among the respondents, 140 said that they use the bKash app to gain cashback from bKash.
Almost all shoppers in the survey said the pandemic taught them that contactless payment is not only safe and healthy but also easy, convenient and quick.