Community shopping festival encourages spending on the islands

A shopping festival encouraging people to spend money in Taipa and Coloane officially opened on Saturday. It is the first event of a series of shopping festivals that are to take place in various districts of the city.

The Islands Shopping Carnival will be held between now and September 29, and features more than 600 shops across Taipa and Coloane. The scale of the festival has doubled since last year’s event.

Several initiatives will be in place to help business owners attract customers, one of which being discounts offers on electronic payment methods. Customers will have the chance to win an instant discount, enter an electronic lucky draw and earn coupons when they pay for purchases over MOP68 by BOC Smart Pay, Tai Fung Pay, UnionPay Cloud Payment or Macau Pass’ MPay.

In total, MOP400,000 worth of coupons will be offered for use at more than 400 participating outlets.

Director Tai Kin Ip of the Economic Bureau, the lead organizer of the festival, expressed his delight at seeing the electronic redemption platform being made in such a short time. He said the platform will not only help with the distribution of perks, but also resource allocation and marketing. He hopes it will help business owners understand the advantages of electronic payment.

On the other hand, Ieong Keng Hoi, president of The Industry and Commerce Federation of Islands of Macao, another lead organizer, recalled that at last year’s festival, half of the transactions were made in the form of electronic payment.

Ieong said in the past year, his association has regularly visited businesses to promote electronic payment. Of all the participating outlets this year, 90% have been equipped with electronic payment facilities. He hopes the government can further promote Coloane, Hac-sa and Ka-Ho to tourists. Staff reporter