Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s No. 2 convenience store chain, aims to increase its member base from 4.6 million to 6 million people this year with a new marketing strategy.
The strategy involves improving customer “stickiness,” especially among those aged 35 and above who are more willing to accumulate reward points, FamilyMart merchandising division director Huang Jiun-yih (黃君毅) told a news conference yesterday.
The company said it would extend the period during which bonus points could be used from 10 weeks to one year in a bid to boost customers’ willingness to collect points.
Considering that different age groups have different preferences, FamilyMart also plans to provide a wide variety of prizes, from action figures to luxury suitcases, for people who have accumulated enough points, Huang said.
“We expect our members to contribute 35 percent of the company’s total sales this year, up from last year’s 25 percent,” Huang said, adding that average revenue per transaction from members is usually 60 percent higher than revenue generated by non-members.
FamilyMart said it also aims to enhance the electronic payment services on its e-wallet, My FamiPay. The company works with four major Taiwanese banks, including CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行) and E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行), on its e-wallet services and is in talks with two other local lenders over possible collaborations.
The company said that its non-cash payment penetration would reach more than 20 percent by the end of this year, compared with 17 percent last year.
Family Mart’s main rival, President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商) aims to increase its non-cash payment penetration from 18 percent to 25 percent this year through the launch of credit card services.
The nation’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, plans to expand credit card payment services to its nearly 5,200 outlets this year by collaborating with Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), PCSC officials said last month.
The government has set a target to increase electronic payments in Taiwan to 52 percent of all transactions by 2020.
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