Although the penetration rate of credit cards in the Taiwanese market has seen slower growth since 2001, the ratio of consumer loans to personal consumption expenditure is rising steadily, according to MasterCard International's latest report.
During the first nine months of last year, Taiwanese spent NT$1.05 trillion (US$35 billion) on credit-card payments, accounting for 21.73 percent of overall consumption expenditures, said Tina Chiang (江威娜), vice president and business manager of MasterCard International, citing the Financial Supervisory Commission's statistics.
Compared with the full-year ratio of 16.36 percent in 2002 and 19.12 percent in 2003, Chiang said credit card usage has become widely accepted and the ratio can be pushed higher if suitable promotions and incentives are offered.
In contrast, the number of credit cards issued is rising at a slower pace. As of October last year, more than 42.95 million credit cards were in circulation, showing an annual growth rate of 13.5 percent -- a steep drop from the full-year figures of 31 percent in 2002 and 22 percent in 2003.
"Since each adult has more than four credit cards, on average, financial institutions have met with greater obstacles and higher operation costs in launching new cards," she said.
Although the market has been flooded with a wide array of multi-functional cards, Chiang remains optimistic about the possibilities of luring people to use credit cards rather than cash.
A popular marketing strategy adopted last year by various retailers is to offer zero-interest installment programs, which have successfully stimulated consumption, Chiang said.
From a long-term point of view, however, Taiwan's changing population structure is expected to play a major role in shaping new consumer behavior, she noted.
"As more and more women have the final say over household finances, businesses will have to tailor-make marketing activities to create consumer demand," Chiang said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day