The electronic payment industry might face increased competition in the next few months after Line Pay Co (連加網路) yesterday promised higher-than-average rewards as it aims to boost its market share.
Line Pay, a wholly owned subsidiary of LINE Biz+ Taiwan Ltd (台灣連線), would reward Line Pay/iPass account holders with 3 credit points, also known as “Line points,” for every NT$100 spent, Line Pay head of operations Ashley Wu (吳孟芝) told a news conference in Taipei.
The reward program would remain valid untill the end of February next year and there is no limit for bonus points, Wu said.
Photo: CNA
The firm has seen the number of registered Line Pay/iPass accounts surpass 1 million, which Wu said is not bad for a service that came to the market just four months earlier.
This year, Line Pay aims to invite more merchants to be partners and encourage more people to spend using the electronic payment tool, rather than only using the firm’s transfer function, Wu said.
“Our competitive strength is the large base of Line users and the user community, and we hope to turn users into consumers,” Wu said.
Line Pay yesterday introduced a new billing device called Line Pay mini for merchants, along with a new marketing program that includes vouchers and a digital map to enable people to find merchants equipped with Line Pay mini.
It is the first time Line Pay has given rewards for use of its electronic payment service.
Rival Jkopay Co Ltd (街口電子支付) has awarded 2 credit points for every NT$100 spent since it launched services in Taiwan last year.
Though its reward ratio is slightly lower than Line Pay, JKopay is confident that it has competitive strength, as it is in cooperation with 17 local banks and charges no handling fees, JKopay communications officer Vivien Chan (詹宥虹) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
For consumers, no handling fee is better than the 1 percent difference in reward points, Chan said.
As of November last year, registered Line Pay/iPass accounts reached 903,296, making it No. 1 among electronic payment services in Taiwan. It was followed by AllPay Financial Information Service Co Ltd (歐付寶) with 780,990 users and Jkopay with 613,223 users.
However, Jkopay’s consumer spending for November last year totaled NT$565.173 million (US$18.33 million), ahead of AllPay’s NT$68 million and Line Pay’s NT$43 million, according to data released by the Financial Supervisory Commission on Jan. 8.
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