Singapore’s Events & Marketplace Landscape: A Quiet Revolution in POS System and Merchandising

# Exploring the Vibrant Event Economy in Singapore: How Modern POS Solutions Transform Marketplaces and Roadshows

CONTENTS

1. The Event Economy in Singapore: Types, Attendance & GDP Impact

2. Marketplace / Selling Events: Merchant Pain Points

3. Emerging Mobile POS Terminals: Relief, but Limitations

4. A Modern POS Software with Loyalty & Event Features: Rewardly

5. Popular Solutions Among Singapore Event Merchants

6. Showcase of Popular Marketplaces & Roadshows in Singapore

7. Summary and Outlook

Events, marketplaces, and roadshows are vibrant components of Singapore’s economy. They draw large crowds, boost consumer spending, and support numerous merchants and service providers. In recent years, we’ve witnessed impressive attendance figures alongside a shift in how merchants and event organizers operate. They are quietly upgrading tools, workflows, and payment systems to better meet the expectations of visitors and merchants alike.

In this article, we will explore the statistics behind Singapore’s event economy. We’ll dig into the pain points that merchants face in high-volume marketplace and roadshow situations. Additionally, we will highlight how modern POS (point-of-sale) systems — beyond just payment terminals — are enabling better order flows, fulfillment, loyalty, and pre-event marketing.

Finally, we will spotlight specific POS solutions, especially Rewardly, and how they can be applied at major Singapore marketplaces like the Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar.

1. The Event Economy in Singapore: Types, Attendance & GDP Impact

Events in Singapore vary widely, including concerts, exhibitions, food fairs, marketplaces, trade shows, and roadshows. While statistics on marketplaces are limited, reliable data exists for broader events and the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) sectors.

Types of Events and Attendance

• The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) reports that the MICE sector is rebounding. In 2021, Singapore hosted over 200 events attended by around 49,000 delegates. (Singapore Tourism Board)

• In the consumer bazaar/marketplace space, the Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar in 2023 reported over 2 million visitors halfway through its run. (The Straits Times) Later, it was reported that about three million people visited the bazaar with a week still to go. (The Straits Times)

• The National Arts Council indicates that non-ticketed in-person attendance at arts and cultural events rose from 4.6 million in 2020 to 5.4 million in 2021. (Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth)

• As for payments infrastructure, Singapore had around 44 POS terminals per 1,000 individuals in 2021 — one of the highest rates in the Asia-Pacific region. (Singapore Business Review)

  
  

Economic / GDP Impact

While I couldn’t find a breakdown of GDP contribution specifically for marketplace and roadshow events, we can contextualize the events sector:

• Singapore’s overall GDP growth for 2023 was projected to be around 1.0% by the Ministry of Trade and Industry Singapore (MTI). (Singstat)

• The STB estimated that tourism receipts (which include inbound visitor spending, often overlapping with event attendance) in 2023 were around S$24.5–26.0 billion (~88-94% of 2019 levels). (Singapore Tourism Board) Given the scale of events and marketplaces (e.g., millions of visitors), their role in driving footfall, F&B, merchandise, and ancillary services makes them a meaningful component of the services sector and the retail/entertainment value chain.

  
  

Summary Takeaway

In short, Singapore’s event ecosystem is large (millions of attendees), diverse (from bazaars to large trade exhibitions), and interconnected with the economy via tourism, retail, F&B, and service providers. For marketplace and roadshow-type events, especially, the crowd volumes present a significant revenue opportunity — but only if managed well.

2. Marketplace / Selling Events: Merchant Pain Points

Let’s narrow our focus to marketplace or selling events (e.g., bazaars, roadshows, pop-up markets) where merchants sell directly to consumers on-site and face unique challenges. In these environments, merchants may struggle without proper tools and workflows.

Pain Points Experienced by Merchants

1. High Foot-Traffic but Order/Transaction Chaos

2. At bazaars with thousands or millions of visitors, merchants may face unpredictable spikes, overlapping orders, and manual processes (cash, handwritten receipts, etc.).

3. For example, at the Geylang Serai Bazaar, rental costs were high, and some vendors worried about recouping their investment due to competition and utility/incidental costs. (The New Paper)

5. When merchants are not equipped to manage high-volume orders (tracking inventory, fulfillment, queuing, payment, receipts), they risk errors, long wait times, and dissatisfied customers.




6. Poor Customer Experience Leading to Lost Business or Compensation

7. With high rental and setup costs, a merchant that fails to convert or suffers operational delays may lose business.

8. One article reported a vendor at a Singapore bazaar making only S$14 in sales one day, attributing it to poor footfall and marketing. (8days)

10. If queues are long, orders are misfulfilled, or payment hiccups occur, customers may walk away or demand compensation/refunds.




11. Manual Payment + Fulfillment Disconnects

12. A stall may receive payment but lack a system to link that payment to order fulfillment, leading to mismatches or inefficient workflows.

14. With simple mobile card readers, the merchant may accept payment but then lacks tracking of orders, inventories, customer receipts, or loyalty.




15. Limited Pre-Event Marketing, Voucher/Pre-Paid Capability

16. Many events rely on foot traffic, but merchants may lack tools to sell prepaid items, tickets, or vouchers before the event starts, losing out on committed revenue and better customer engagement.

18. Pre-selling gives the merchant a head start, improves predictability, and reduces the risk of underselling.

Selling Without a Complete POS vs. Selling with a Modern POS

Although I didn’t find precise published numbers comparing merchants at events without vs. with POS systems, we can infer qualitative distinctions:

• Without a POS: Payments may be done via a simple card reader or cash; inventory tracking may be manual or absent; order fulfillment may rely on paper slips; customer data is lost; loyalty programs are manual or non-existent. Result: slower service, higher error rates, lost repeat business, lower conversion rates.

• With a Modern POS System: Payments are integrated; inventory and orders are tracked in real-time; customer data is captured; loyalty and membership features apply; pre-event vouchers/tickets are supported. Result: higher conversion, faster turnaround, better customer experience, repeat business, and more controlled fulfillment.

  
  

For example, suppose a merchant sells at a busy bazaar without a POS. In that case, they may lose 5-10% of potential sales due to manual inefficiencies and customer churn. Converting that into real numbers: if footfall is 100,000 visitors and conversion is 2% vs. 2.2% (10% uplift) at an average basket of S$30, the difference is:

Without POS: 100,000 × 2% = 2,000 sales × S$30 = S$60,000

With POS: 100,000 × 2.2% = 2,200 sales × S$30 = S$66,000

That’s an extra S$6,000 (10% more) just from better conversion. Multiply this across multiple merchants and events, and the delta becomes significant. Furthermore, better fulfillment reduces refunds and complaints, improving net margins.

Given Singapore’s near-universal digital payment environment, the absence of a complete POS means merchants may be lagging in offering frictionless service.

3. Emerging Mobile POS Terminals: Relief, but Limitations

One of the earliest steps merchants at events take is to adopt a mobile POS payment terminal (card reader or mobile reader) to accept credit/debit cards, contactless payments, or QR code payments on the go. This is undoubtedly better than cash-only, but it has limitations when applied to high-volume marketplace and roadshow scenarios.

What Mobile POS Terminals Bring (Relief)

• Enables acceptance of credit card and contactless payments — critical in Singapore, where cash usage is declining.

• Portable, low setup cost, can serve temporary stalls or pop-ups efficiently.

• Improves customer convenience, lowers payment friction, and increases potential conversion.

  
  

Shortcomings of Mobile POS (and Opportunities for “Better”)

• Payment Only: Many mobile POS terminals focus purely on the payment transaction; they do not manage the complete “order → fulfillment → packing → pickup” workflow. In a busy bazaar, payment is just one step of many.

• Lack of Order Management: If a customer places an order (say, F&B or merchandise) and then picks it up later, a simple mobile POS may lack a mechanism to track which orders are ready, which are pending, or segregated by pickup zones.

• Workflow Inefficiencies: Without integrated fulfillment (e.g., cook/pack staff get notified automatically, packing queue managed, pickup routing optimized), stalls may become chaotic.

• No Pre-Event Sales or Voucher/Ticketing Capability: Many mobile card readers do not include functionality for selling pre-paid tickets, vouchers, or memberships before the event. This limits the merchant’s ability to lock in revenue early, engage customers pre-event, or track customer behavior.

• Limited Customer Data and Loyalty Integration: Mobile POS may record payment but not tie it to a customer profile, loyalty points, repeat purchase tracking, or membership perks. For an event organizer or merchant wanting to build customer engagement beyond the transaction, this is a gap.

• No Inventory or Merchant Dashboard: In a busy event environment, inventory levels, popular items, and sell-through rates matter. A mobile POS that only handles payments lacks these analytics and operational controls.

  
  

What a Solution Should Deliver for High-Volume Events

• Order Taking Speed & Mobile/Scan-to-Order: Allow customers to scan a QR code, place an order on their smartphone, pay, and then pick up at the booth/zone — reducing queue congestion and enabling asynchronous fulfillment.

• Fulfillment Workflow Orchestration: After an order is received, the kitchen or packing area is notified, items are queued for packing, then the customer is notified when ready, and pickup is managed. This gives predictable operations.

• Pre-Event Sales & Vouchers: Merchants and organizers can open sales before the event: pre-paid items, tickets, membership packages, redeemable coupons — helping with non-footfall-based revenue and better P&L predictability.

• Customer Loyalty & Membership Integration: Capture customer profiles, reward repeat customers across events, track spend, and issue digital coupons and incentives to bring them back.

• Merchant/Organizer Dashboards & Analytics: Provide real-time visibility into item sell rates, peak times, queue lengths, and inventory status; for the organizer, better ability to allocate resources, schedule staff, and optimize booth layout.

• Seamless Payments + Data Capture: Payment, order, customer profile, and loyalty all integrated; ideally, the merchant doesn’t use separate systems for payment, order, and data collection.

  
  

Therefore, while mobile POS terminals are a valuable step, there is a clear need for a more holistic POS, order, and loyalty platform for marketplaces and roadshows in Singapore.

4. A Modern POS Software with Loyalty & Event Features: Rewardly

Enter the brand-agnostic but all-in-one solution: Rewardly. In the context of Singapore’s marketplace and roadshow events, a system like Rewardly offers the breadth of features needed for merchants and event organizers alike.

What Rewardly Offers

• Rewardly POS: Enables merchants to sell their products, manage their inventory, process orders (including for event use), and take payments (in-store, mobile, pop-up) seamlessly.

• Rewardly LoyaltyOS: Adds loyalty and membership features — enabling merchants and event organizers to issue and redeem coupons, pre-paid packages, memberships tied to multiple events, and incentives for the public to visit affiliated events.

• Rewardly PaymentOS: Provides turnkey integration with payment providers so merchants can accept credit cards, PayNow, QR code payments, and even receive online orders. The integration helps raise conversion rates and ensures smooth, fast, and secure transactions.

  
  

How This Applies to Marketplace/Roadshow Events

• A merchant participating in a 700-stall bazaar (e.g., Geylang) can set up a pre-event campaign: issue vouchers or digital coupons online (via LoyaltyOS) that attendees pre-buy; this locks in revenue, introduces customers to the brand, and reduces the risk of underselling.

• During the event, customers can scan a QR code at the stall, order via smartphone, pay online or at the stall (via PaymentOS), then pick up the items when notified. This reduces queue time, improves throughput, and enhances customer satisfaction.

• Meanwhile, the merchant’s POS records inventory, tracks sell-through, and monitors best-selling items in real-time, so the merchant and event organizer can reallocate stock or staff accordingly.

• For the event organizer, LoyaltyOS enables cross-event memberships: e.g., attend Event A (roadshow) and get perks at Event B (night market). This drives repeat visitation, boosts audience engagement, and feeds into the event’s P&L via increased participation and visitor spend.

• PaymentOS ensures all payment types common in Singapore (credit cards, PayNow, QR wallets) are accepted — in Singapore’s cashless ecosystem, that’s critical. Indeed, only ~13% of POS transactions used cash in 2024 preparation. (Sumsub)

• The integrated data enables better forecasting, better booth allocation, stronger pre-marketing, and enhanced fulfillment workflow — turning the event from a chaotic last-minute “throw-together” into a smoothly run revenue machine.

  
  

I enjoy visiting the bazaar for the buzz and the variety of products. I am not there to stand in line for 30 minutes to get my order, as that wastes time. - Bazaar Go-er

Why It Matters

For event organizers and merchants operating in Singapore’s competitive marketplace and roadshow environment, the “silent change” is happening. They are shifting from manual payment and checkout to digital, order-managed, loyalty-enabled, pre-marketed, and fulfillment-optimized systems. Rewardly encapsulates this shift — giving them tools they previously lacked.

5. Popular Solutions Among Singapore Event Merchants

Below are some of the POS and merchant tools commonly used by event merchants in Singapore — including Rewardly as the focal solution, followed by others.

1. Rewardly POS – Full merchant-event ecosystem: sales, inventory, orders, fulfillment, and loyalty integration (as described above).

2. HitPay – Known for ease of use, ability to accept credit cards, PayNow, QR codes — widely used by small merchants and pop-ups.

3. KPay – Provides portable payment terminals and integrates with digital wallets and card acceptance, suited to mobile stalls and event booths.

4. Hashmato – Offers POS and mobile payment terminal solutions for merchants, often used in F&B pop-ups and roadshows.

5. Qashier – Singapore-based cloud POS solution with hardware and software, enabling merchants to accept payments and manage inventory.

6. Koomi – Though primarily known as a brand, they also engage in POS/payment integration solutions for F&B and event-based merchants (especially dessert/ice-cream pop-ups) — merchants using Koomi’s ecosystem benefit from integrated POS and payments.

   
   

Each of these solutions addresses parts of the merchant and event pain points: mobile payment acceptance, inventory or order tracking, or loyalty programs. However, in the context of high-volume events and roadshows where order management, pre-event marketing, fulfillment workflow, and loyalty matter, a more comprehensive solution (e.g., Rewardly) may offer an edge.

6. Showcase of Popular Marketplaces & Roadshows in Singapore

To give event organizers a sense of how these advanced POS solutions might boost productivity and revenue, here are some popular marketplace and roadshow events in Singapore:

• Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar: In 2023, this bazaar reported over 2 million visitors at the halfway mark, and about 3 million near the end. (The Straits Times) With approximately 700 stalls, this is a significant event for merchants. By using Rewardly, organizers and merchants could:

- Pre-sell digital vouchers or food tokens before the bazaar via LoyaltyOS, locking in revenue.

- Equip each stall with scan-to-order QR codes; customers order and pay, then pick up — reducing queues and increasing throughput.

- Use dashboards to monitor which stalls and items are selling fast and reallocate staff or resources accordingly.

• Deepavali Bazaar (Orchard Road): According to the media, vendors at this bazaar experienced a drop in footfall and had to cut prices by up to 40%. (The Straits Times) Using a modern POS and loyalty system could help boost conversion rates, engage visitors through pre-event promotions, and track customer behavior to drive retention.

  
  

• Weekend Flea Markets & Pop-Up Fairs: As per listings of “16 Best Weekend Markets & Flea Markets in Singapore 2025.” (Sassy Mama SG) For these smaller-scale events, the same principles apply: faster order and checkout, pre-event membership or voucher sales, integrated loyalty, and data capture for repeat visits.

  
  

For all these event formats, implementing an advanced POS, order, and loyalty stack can be a quiet but powerful differentiator in merchant performance and overall event success.

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7. Summary and Outlook

In sum:

• Singapore’s events, marketplaces, and roadshows are significant — millions of visitors, broad merchant participation, and meaningful contributions to the services economy.

• Merchants in these high-volume selling events face real pain points: manual payment and fulfillment, inefficiencies, poor customer experience, and lost business opportunities.

• While mobile POS terminals have relieved some payment friction, they alone do not address the whole workflow of order taking, fulfillment, pre-event marketing, loyalty, and data capture.

• A modern POS software suite (exemplified by Rewardly), which integrates payment, order management, inventory, pre-event sales, and customer loyalty, can transform a merchant’s performance and an event organizer’s productivity.

• Several POS and payment solutions are available in Singapore (Rewardly, HitPay, KPay, Hashmato, Qashier, Koomi), and events such as the Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar, Deepavali Bazaar, and weekend flea markets are ideal venues for organizers and merchants to envision the benefits of these digital upgrades.

  
  

As event organizers and merchants “silently change” — upgrading their back-end, front-end, and payment, loyalty, and fulfillment stack — the visitor experience improves, conversion rates go up, and repeat visitation rises. Ultimately, the event’s P&L is bolstered.