Consumeuch | Woori Card’s ‘Card Principle’ Tops 1 Million Cards in Five Months… One Card Every 13 Seconds
Woori Card announced on August 30, 2018 that its flagship 'Card Principle' series topped 1 million cards issued five months after launch. Industry-leading accrual and discounts, together with design combining artist Kim Hyun Jung's Korean painting, were cited as popularity drivers, with the outlook forecasting 2 million cards by year-end.
View full text
[Consumeuch = Reporter Kim Eun-ju] Woori Card's flagship 'Card Principle' series continues its red-hot popularity, as its simplification strategy of concentrating benefits on areas of customer interest has hit the mark.
Woori Card (CEO Jung Won-jae) announced on the 30th that the 'Card Principle' series has topped 1 million cards issued five months after launch.
Woori Card introduced four products starting with 'Card Principle POINT' last April, followed by DISCOUNT, SHOPPING and L.POINT, showing signs of a hit early on by topping 100,000 cards within three weeks of launch. It then set a record-breaking pace by surpassing 1 million within five months, establishing itself as a flagship hit product in the market.
The key factors behind the 'Card Principle' series' success are cited as ▲ a solid foundation of industry-leading accrual and discounts; ▲ bold extra benefits in categories customers use most often; and ▲ a refined, beautiful card design that fuses art and finance by drawing on Korean beauty.
As the industry's first such approach, the card drew on the work of Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung, who is well loved for grounding her work in Oriental painting while bringing fresh ideas and themes suited to the times, to capture Korean beauty in the design.
The card plate surface is also given a special finish so the artwork appears set in a frame, and a 'ㄱ'-shaped notch is placed at the top right to make it easier to pull the card out of a wallet, an effort to enhance the customer's brand experience.
The pace of sales is also gaining momentum. With various products such as an office-worker-specific card and a mileage-type card also planned for launch, reaching 2 million cards by year-end looks feasible, and since credit cards make up a larger share of issuance than check cards, a positive effect on sales is also expected.
A Woori Card official said, "By cutting unnecessary add-on services and channeling the savings into strengthening core benefits, we preemptively addressed concerns about profitability, and as a result customer satisfaction has risen further, creating a win-win for both the company and our customers."
The official added, "Despite the challenging environment in the industry recently, we are deeply grateful to have achieved such good results thanks to the enthusiastic response our customers have shown 'Card Principle,'" adding, "we will continue to repay our customers with good products that reflect their needs and market trends."
Meanwhile, 'Card Principle POINT' offers higher point accrual in 10 categories customers use frequently, and 'Card Principle L.POINT' earns L.POINT rewards just by using Woori Card, with additional accrual when using Lotte affiliates and Lpay.
Also popular are 'Card Principle DISCOUNT,' which offers discounts at all domestic merchants regardless of the previous month's spending, and 'Card Principle SHOPPING,' which combines online and offline shopping discounts on a single card.