Chosun Biz | [Exclusive] Woori Card’s ‘Jeongseok’ Series Sensation… Premium Cards Get a Makeover Too
Chosun Biz exclusively reported that Woori Card is relaunching two “Royal Blue” premium cards, effectively wrapping up its round of product-lineup restructuring centered on the “Card Jeongseok” series. The article said the series, led by CEO Jung Won-jae, has issued nearly 3 million cards since launch, and cited its design using Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung's artwork and its web-drama marketing as keys to its success.
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Woori Card to Relaunch Premium 'Royal Blue' Cards
Card Jeongseok Lineup Wraps Up… Shifting Focus to Substance
Woori Card is launching two Royal Blue cards to target the premium market. The renewed cards feature enhanced benefits based on the existing Royal Blue card. With the launch of these two new Royal Blue cards, Woori Card plans to shift its focus, for the time being, away from launching new card products and toward strengthening the substance of its existing lineup rather than introducing new ones.
According to Woori Card and the card industry on the 17th, Woori Card plans to relaunch two renewed Royal Blue cards this month. Royal Blue was a product Woori Card launched in 2014. It allows customers to accumulate Korean Air and Asiana Airlines mileage and comes packed with travel-related benefits such as premium hotel and airport lounge access, making it a premium card.
Reflecting feedback from the field and from customers, Woori Card decided to add a new point-based version to the existing Royal Blue card and strengthen customer benefits. Benefits for the mileage version will be significantly enhanced compared to the existing Royal Blue card. Under the existing card, Korean Air mileage accrued at a base rate of 1 mile per 1,500 won spent and Asiana Airlines at 1 mile per 1,000 won, while the renewed Royal Blue card will accrue 1 mile per 1,000 won for Korean Air and 1.5 miles per 1,000 won for Asiana Airlines.
The newly created point-based card offers 1% points back on domestic merchant spending, 2% on overseas merchants and duty-free spending, and 1.5% on categories like airlines, travel agencies, coffee and mobile carriers. Woori Card said, “Consumer research found strong customer preference for a point-based option, so we newly introduced one.”
The Royal Blue card carries an annual fee of 300,000 won for the point version and 330,000 won for the mileage version. In Korea's card industry, an annual fee in the range of 200,000 to 700,000 won is generally considered premium tier. Woori Card plans to provide gifts commensurate with the annual fee to Royal Blue subscribers, such as round-trip companion airfare within Asia and combined hotel-dining vouchers, plus a free night at an overseas hotel for every two nights stayed each year.
With the relaunch of the Royal Blue cards, Woori Card plans not to introduce new card products for the time being. This wraps up nearly a year of product-lineup restructuring at Woori Card that began with the first launch of the “Card Jeongseok” series last April. The Card Jeongseok series, an ambitious project spearheaded by CEO Jung Won-jae, has issued nearly 3 million cards since its first product launched in April last year. Woori Card expects Card Jeongseok issuance to hit 3 million this month.
With CEO Jung's full backing, the strong response to the Card Jeongseok series has also lifted Woori Card's brand image. Since launching Card Jeongseok, Woori Card ranked second, behind Samsung Card, in the credit-card brand reputation index compiled by the Korea Institute of Corporate Reputation. While it trails larger card companies like Hyundai Card and Shinhan Card in market share, it has firmly built up its brand image. The sophisticated design featuring Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung's artwork, a strategy of strengthening core benefits to match customer demand, and new marketing attempts such as producing web dramas are cited as the keys to Card Jeongseok's success.
For now, rather than launching new card products, Woori Card plans to focus on strengthening the substance of the Card Jeongseok products introduced over the past year. The Card Jeongseok series shows about 10% higher usage rates and per-person spending than the company's previous flagship, the “Ganada” series. Woori Card plans to maximize these strengths further while cutting costs and maximizing profitability for the time being.
A Woori Card representative said, “With Card Jeongseok's success, major companies are now approaching us first to propose partnerships, showing just how much Woori Card's influence has grown. Rather than launching new cards this year, we plan to focus on strengthening the substance of our existing lineup.”