The pandemic has revolutionised digital payments in Malaysia. Many restaurants have applied changes to comply with health and safety reasons to minimize the spread of COVID-19. One of them is digital payment using QR codes.
We can see the data from Google Trend below that search queries for QR code payment keeps increasing substantially from the last 12 months in Malaysia:
Digital payments provide minimal contact between customers and restaurant staff, which is important in social distancing during the pandemic. This trend is not only happening in Malaysia but also across the globe.
In Australia, New South Wales Government implements QR Codes in shops and cafes to trace customers’ contacts. Meanwhile, China mandates the application of QR codes for health and travel within the country.
The Benefits of QR Code
The trend is expected to remain in place even after the pandemic is over mainly because the QR code payment system offers more than simply health and safety reasons during the pandemic, but also easiness and quickness, especially when customers dine in the restaurant during peak hours.
Restaurants have started to replace their traditional paper-based menus with QR codes menus. Customers who dine within the restaurant can scan the code using their phones to access the menu digitally.
The benefit of the traditional menu to QR code transition goes beyond just health reasons. We can say it helps save printing costs whenever item changes on the menu are required. Also, it helps reduce deforestation from the consumption of paper.
Another main benefit of QR code application in a restaurant is reducing queue lines. Today, using the QR code payment system, customers do not need to queue and order or queue and pay at the cashier, which presents several issues. It isn’t easy to save space for customers to queue safely if we think about 1 to 1,5 meter separation for each customer when queuing. Even the interaction between cashier and customers can cause problems, desease transmission, and the aspect of hospitality. The interaction will be separated by acrylic and masks, which can cause communication issues. And this is not what you should be doing if you want to keep your customers happy.
On the business aspect, an instant payment system using QR code payment can save time for both customers and staff. Restaurants can have more table turns, and other customers can come and dine instead, turning into profits for the business.
Conclusions
In the end, the QR code menu benefits the customers, the restaurant and the government altogether. The application has been widely used not only in the food and beverage sector but also in the marketing, security and retail industries.
There are 21 million smartphone users in Malaysia, and the number is growing rapidly. To turn your QR code menu into the most outstanding campaign for your restaurant, contact our WhiteBean experts today.
Image Credits: Christiann Koepke