By Kim Jae-won
Lotte Card is seeking to become a leader in the credit card industry by developing an innovative mileage point scheme, a strategy that has set itself apart from its peers.
Customers can use the points if they surpass 1,000 points just like cash in Lotte Members’ shops. The points can also be used to pay annual credit card fees or be donated to the underprivileged.
Lotte Card is famous for its strong discount point service. It is a reward service, which gives back to customers from 0.2 percent to 10 percent of what they paid with the credit card. If customers pay with the card at shops that are Lotte Members, they can get up to an additional 3 percent of what they paid in points.
Lotte boasts of a broad retail network related to 30 affiliates of Lotte Group. Customers of Lotte Card can accumulate integrated points through Lotte shops under the group. And it also can be used as cash at those shops. It is the first discount point service network in the nation.
Lotte Group covers almost all retail sectors, such as department stores, discount marts, convenience stores, supermarkets, hotels, family restaurants, and theaters. Lotte also installed payment operating systems at all member shops.
Recently, Lotte Card expanded its boundary to reach outside the group. It signed with SK Energy and Woongjin Coway to include Lotte’s discount point service, and plans to extend its mileage service to more companies.
Lotte also sends a “Lotte Point E-mail Statement” to all customers to help them use their points efficiently. The credit card service company also runs a “Point Family System,” which allows family members to share their points.
Lotte Card is growing fast in the industry numbering 8.4 million customers in September. The balance of card transactions reached 27.8 trillion won for the first nine months this year.
It also marked 113.2 billion won in net profits from the June-to-September period by earning 154 billion won in operating profits. Its delinquency ratio marked 1.69 percent in the third quarter, lower than its competitors.