All Win Co Ltd (全盈支付) yesterday launched its electronic payment service, the first managed by a convenience store chain in Taiwan.
Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s second-largest convenience store chain with 4,000 stores nationwide, is a major shareholder of All Win.
The new e-payment firm expects to attract at least 1.5 million users by the end of the year, All Win president Liu Mei-lin (劉美玲) said at a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
The service awards users one reward point for each dollar spent at FamilyMart stores, Liu said.
Users can redeem the points at FamilyMart stores or its distribution partners, such as Watson’s Personal Care Stores (Taiwan) Co Ltd (台灣屈臣氏), PChome Online Inc (網路家庭), M-Taxi Co Ltd (大都會衛星車隊), Ikari Coffee (怡客咖啡) and various restaurants, she said.
All Win plans to integrate 10,000 physical and digital stores into its service, she added.
Regarding how the e-payment service would outperform a similar service offered by President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), the nation’s largest convenience store operator, Liu said that All Win would focus on collaborating with retailers in different sectors to expand its consumer base.
“President Chain concentrates on vertical integration, including its affiliates — units of Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業) — into its e-wallet service. In comparison, we would focus on horizontal alliances by partnering with different companies in multiple sectors,” Liu said.
All Win believes an open platform would help attract customers, she said.
That is also why All Win’s e-payment service would accept credit cards from all local banks, while other e-payment services are restricted to certain bank’s credit cards, Liu said.
Even though E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) is the firm’s second-largest shareholder with an 18 percent stake, All Win would allow users to link their credit cards regardless of the issuing bank, as people already have their own preference of credit cards, Liu said.
It would also differentiate its service with micro-financing products, such as online loans facilitated by E.Sun Bank and a “buy-now-pay-later” program offered by NP Taiwan Inc (恩沛).
It would also allow users to add cash to their accounts at FamilyMart stores, so those without credit cards or those who do not want to link their bank accounts to the service can still use it, the company said.
Liu was previously a vice president at E.Sun Bank, but resigned when she joined All Win to comply with Financial Supervisory Commission regulations.
Neither Liu nor All Win chairman Hsueh Dong-du (薛東都), who is also FamilyMart’s president, said when they expect All Win to make a profit, saying that the firm would prioritize optimizing its service.
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