Simin Ilbo | Woori Card’s ‘Card Principle’ Series Tops 500,000 Cards Just 3 Months After Launch — Captures the Market with Industry-Leading Benefits and Korean Beauty
Simin Ilbo reported that Woori Card's 'Card Principle' series topped 500,000 cards issued just three months after launch. The article ran alongside a photo of Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung in hanbok, holding a card made to mark the milestone, and introduced the point, discount and shopping benefits of each product in the series.
View full text
[Simin Ilbo = Reporter Lee Dae-woo] Woori Card's (CEO Jung Won-jae) flagship 'Card Principle' series has surpassed 500,000 cards issued just three months after launch.
According to Woori Card on the 4th, the company launched 'Card Principle POINT,' which combines strong point-accrual benefits with artistic design, on April 2. The card topped 300,000 issued within two months and 500,000 within three months, an exceptionally fast issuance rate compared with typical general-purpose cards.
The card's popularity is first attributed to its bold point-accrual benefits. It earns the industry's best base rate of 0.8% across all merchant categories, with no cap once monthly spending reaches 300,000 won.
In particular, it offers higher point accrual in 10 special categories closely tied to daily life: 5% for mobile telecom, public transit and EV charging; 3% for coffee and movies; and 1% for department stores, large discount stores, online shopping, fuel and overseas purchases. Registering and paying with the card through four major simple-payment services — Naver Pay, Kakao Pay, Payco and SSG Pay — earns an additional 3%.
Following 'Card Principle POINT,' the 'Card Principle DISCOUNT' and 'Card Principle SHOPPING' cards, launched on the 25th of this month, have also drawn strong customer response and interest.
'Card Principle DISCOUNT' offers 0.7% cash back at all domestic merchants, rising to 1.0% on single purchases of 1 million won or more. The benefit applies across all categories regardless of the previous month's spending, with no discount cap.
'Card Principle SHOPPING' offers a 10% discount at seven major offline shopping categories and all online shopping categories when the previous month's spending reaches 300,000 won or more. For online shopping, registering and paying with the card through major simple-payment services such as Samsung Pay, Naver Pay, Kakao Pay and Payco adds a further 5% discount, for up to 15% total.
Also, with 300,000 won or more in spending the previous month, 'Card Principle DISCOUNT' gives 60–100 won off per liter of fuel plus 10% off public transit and 10% off coffee, while 'Card Principle SHOPPING' gives 60 won off per liter of fuel and 10% off coffee.
A Woori Card official said, "With the discount and shopping types now launched alongside the existing point type, we have completed the flagship lineup of the 'Card Principle' series," adding, "With this series complete, we expect to meet customer expectations with some of the best products in the industry."
The annual fee is 10,000 won for domestic-use only and 12,000 won for cards usable overseas. Cards can be applied for at any Woori Bank branch nationwide, on the Woori Card website and mobile app, or through the call center.
Reporter Lee Dae-woo, nice@siminilbo.co.kr