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These days the new buzzword at major credit card firms is ¡°doenjang-nyeo marketing¡±. The new strategy targets women in their 20s and 30s who fit the doenjang-nyeo stereotype: they are completely satisfied with a lunch consisting of a single serving of noodles but need to spend W4,000 or more on a cup of branded coffee. The most successful implementation of the strategy to date is the Coffee Card from Hana Bank. When purchases are made on the card at any one of six coffee shops, including the ubiquitous Starbucks, consumers can get a 15 percent discount on their order (up to W10,000, US$1=W951).
Other cards already offer subscribers W1,000 discounts, or free size upgrades, but Hana Bank is the first to make it clear with the name ¡°Coffee Card¡± that they are going after the doenjang-nyeo. The result has been serious profits. In just two months since the card became available, over 20,000 new customers have signed up, and actual use stands at near 50 percent. ¡°When you consider that the normal rate of actual card use stands at just 20 percent after issuance, it¡¯s an amazing accomplishment,¡± a staffer with the bank says.
Thirty-five percent of cardholders are indeed women in their 20s, and the purchases made on the card are overwhelmingly in the playgrounds of Korea¡¯s fat cats including Gangnam (8.2 percent), Seocho (6 percent), Songpa (4.9 percent) and Bundang (2.9 percent). Hana Bank of course already claims that it has successfully captured the doenjang-nyeo market.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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