The fourth thing is direct mail. In the US, we'd expect 100 percent of our customers to get direct mail. That is the standard. But in Taiwan, it's 70, 60 or 50 percent. There are many reasons for that. If we can approach the American standard, that would be a big achievement.
TT: You mentioned loyalty cards. Are they different from membership cards?
Kruse: The membership card used in Asia is used at checkout. You pay, scan the card and get your points. Our "loyalty card" is not just a discount card. It will be used when you enter the store, while you're shopping, when you check out and after you check out. It will be very interactive. We'll do direct mail offering special prices to loyalty card customers.
When they come, there'll be five or six kiosks where they can scan their cards. The scanner will know what your birthday is, whether you are man or a lady, whether you have children. And you'll get a shopping list. If you drink Pepsi, not Coke, you will not get Coke on your list. It will give you a shopping list of the things you have already bought.
When customers scan their cards on the video screens, they might get products free. It'll be random. After you check out, you get your points and discounts, like normal.
TT: So the card makes the shopping process more interesting?
Kruse: Yes. So we'll get word-of-mouth advertising. Every day we'll randomly load in a thousand loyalty card numbers. If you shop on that day, you'll get your purchase free.
It's very interactive. It's unlike anyone in the world. We will set up 40 percent of the planned kiosks in June and the other 60 percent in October. I believe the loyalty card will be quite amazing. If I'm right, we'll increase sales by 6 or 7 percent and we'll make a profit.
TT: Doesn't that require a big investment?
Kruse: The investment is only about NT$30 million (US$910,000), for software and the kiosks. We'll have very quick applications, very few restrictions.
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