Shinhan offers street cards

By Kim Jae-won

Consumers visit and spend money mostly in a few specific shopping streets. For example, Shinchon in western Seoul is one of the main spots for college students, while the capital’s white-collar workers usually hang out in Myeongdong or around Gangnam Station, near their workplaces. Many Busan residents enjoy shopping at Seomyeon or Haeundae and Gwangju consumers spend most of their time in Chungjangno.

Taking this into consideration Shinhan Card applied this trend to its new credit card titled “Shinhan Hi-Point Card Nano F,” which offers up to a 5-percent discount to cardholders, when they use the card at shops located on a specific street.

Cardholders can choose one shopping area from 30 streets nationwide, which include Myeongdong, Cheongdamdong and Gangnam Station in Seoul, Haeundae in Busan and Tanban-dong in Daejeon.

The cardholders can benefit from reward points, which they can use like cash, from most of the shops in the designated areas, such as department stores, restaurants, clothes shops, hair salons, cosmetics shops and sports centers.

The cardholders can also choose one of seven sectors where they intend to spend the most. They are beauty (hair shops, skin care, cosmetics), sports (tickets, sports centers, golf clubs, K2, Kolon Sport, OKOutdoor.com, ABC Mart and Adidas), book and cafe (Kyobo Book Center, Youngpoong Bookstore, Bandi & Luni’s, Starbucks Coffee, The Coffee Bean and Dunkin’ Donuts), travel (duty-free shops, such as Lotte, Shilla and Dongwha and AllthatTravel), culture (movies, performances, AllthatCulture, Sejong Arts Center, Seoul Arts Center and LG Arts Center), hotel and clubs (Walkerhill, JWMarriott, Lotte and Busan Paradise) and mobile services (SKT, KT and LG U+).

Cardholders can change their selected area or sector up to three times a year through the company’s website (www.shinhancard.com) or its customer call center (1544-7000) without exchanging the card.

Shinhan also employs various marketing strategies to attract more customers and provide better services. The credit card arm of Shinhan Financial Group set up “art benches” outside of the Myeongdong Theater in downtown Seoul in October. Pedestrians can relax there and take a break from shopping or watch the passing crowds.

Shinhan Card is a core subsidiary of Shinhan Financial Group, which contributed a quarter of the group’s net income in the first quarter with 249 billion won. It has 3,425 employees as of March, and the number of people with cards issued by Shinhan marked 15.3 million at the same time.