Shoppers unhappy about TMON's restriction on use of reward points

TMON's new CEO Lee Jin-won / Courtesy of TMON

By Kwak Yeon-soo

TMON's newly adopted policy to restrict customers' use of their reward points has been causing confusion and frustration among some customers.

They are complaining that limiting the use of reward points lessens their benefits, preventing them from receiving additional discounts.

"If they restrict the use of reward points, all those promotional events, including the TMON day, have less meaning," one netizen wrote in an online community.

Another wrote "I'd rather use another e-commerce platform for shopping."

TMON's notice of reward points policy change / Captured from TMON website

Starting July 17, TMON has been allowing customers to spend only half of their reward points for an order that costs more than 500 won (42 cents).

Before then, customers were able to spend their points like cash.

The change in policy came as a means to increase customer visits and improve company profits, according to industry officials.

They said offering such incentives, like reward points and discount coupons, is known to keep customers coming back.

TMON said that the company decided to change its reward points use policy to provide greater benefits to "more" customers.

"We've decided to change our policy to improve the retention rate, which may further lead to increasing profits," a TMON official said.

"Although limiting the use of reward points, we will offer more flash deals and promotions to our customers, including the TMON day and Naver's trending keywords events."

The e-commerce marketplace startup explained that since October last year, it has been focusing on daily deal promotions that can satisfy overall shopping life.

"Our current CEO Lee Jin-won's core philosophy is to secure loyal customers and improve profitability," the official said.

TMON named Lee Jin-won as its new CEO in June, citing his sales and marketing skills.

Under Lee's leadership, TMON introduced "TMON day," "1212 Time" and other marketing events.

As a result, TMON has ranked No.1 in customer indicators such as duration and customer loyalty among local e-commerce companies, according to data from Nielsen Korea.

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