Hyundai Card

Hyundai Card

Industry	Credit Card
Founded	2001
Headquarters	Seoul, South Korea
Key people	Ted Chung, CEO
Products	Premium Card Point Card Discount Card Cashback Card Business Card Corporate Card
Revenue	KRW 1,334.6 bn (2016 2Q)
Operating income	KRW 125.7 bn (2016 2Q)
Net income	KRW 94.9 bn (2016 2Q)
Website	http://about.hyundaicard.com

Hyundai Card (Hangul:현대카드) is a credit card company under Hyundai Motor Group headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. In 1995, Hyundai Motor Group acquired Diners Club Korea, changed its name to Hyundai Card in 2001. In May 2003, the company introduced its signature ‘Hyundai Card M,” followed by a series of ‘alphabet cards.’ The company’s strategic alliance with the GE Consumer Finance in October 2005 boosted the fledgling business in the heavily competitive Korean credit card market.^[1][2][3]

History

In October 2001, Hyundai Motor Group acquired Diners Club Korea and changed its name to Hyundai Card Co., Ltd.^[4] In May 2003, the company launched the signature Hyundai Card M and the Save Point service, which gives advanced M points for Hyundai/Kia cars and other large purchases and retrieve the amount with the M points generated from future M card usage.^[5]

From 2004 the company released a series of ‘alphabet cards’ that are ‘tailored to the customers’ lifestyle’. The company became the biggest hit in the local credit card industry with the largest members of 8 million for a single credit card brand.^[6]

In 2005, the company has partnered with GE Consumer Finance – which later changed its name to GE Capital— allowing Hyundai Card to learn GE’s strong risk management knowhow and GE to acquire a portion of Hyundai brand.^[7] The company launched ‘The Black Card’ in 2005 for the highest-end credit card users, followed by ‘The Purple’ in 2006 and ‘The Red’ in 2008. The Hyundai Card Zero, launched in November 2011, is designed at keeping up with the changing customer lifestyle.^[8]

In July 2013, the company declared Hyundai Card Chapter 2, a streamlining scheme of its product portfolio. All products were trimmed according to the two main pillars – point mileage and cashback—and instead the customers were given the choice to use their point mileage and cashback freely if they met with a certain usage standard.^[9]

In October 2015, the company launched ‘Digital Hyundai Card’ project, that goes beyond introducing mobile/online products, while changing its core nature to an agile and digital-oriented company.^[10]

Products

Premium Card

The Black, the highest premium card,^[11] and The Purple, a premium card, are for highest-end credit card users in Korea. The Red, which follows the traits of The Black and The Purple cards, is another premium card for people who seek beyond ordinary platinum cards.^[12][13]

Point Card

M∙M2∙M3 Edition2, point cards, add extra M point mileage according to the amount of money being swiped, on top of the basic mileage accumulated; T3 Edition2 is a travel and mileage card; M CHECK, has a debit function to withdraw from one’s bank account directly upon use while piling M-point mileage; M HYBRID is a hybrid card performing both check card and credit card functions.^[14][15]

Discount Card

X∙X2∙X3 Edition2 are discount cards offering discounts according to the amount of expenditure; ZERO is a discount card with no preconditions.^[16]

Cashback Card

X CHECK is a check card offering X cashback points accumulation according to the amount of expenditure; X HYBRID is a hybrid card offering X cashback points accumulation according to the amount of expenditure.^[17]

Business Card

MY BUSINESS is a financial service for private business owners.^[18]

Corporate Card

MY COMPANY is a corporate card that offers various financial solutions.^[19]

Digital Hyundai Card

Digital Hyundai Card is a service provided through smartphone application offering customers with a more convenient and securer way to use a credit card.^[20]

The Lock service allows users to shut down their card function whenever they want, with a swipe on the credit card app. Limit, on the other hand, can be used to set credit limits for certain time periods. The Virtual Card Numbers prevent card identity theft online by providing users with a set of numbers that can replace the customers’ actual credit card information online. The PayShot makes online shopping easier by simplifying the payment process. Shoppers only need to log into one of seven different online shopping malls when using their Hyundai cards.^[21][22]

Corporate Social Responsibility

1913 Songjeong Station Market Project is the latest work of Hyundai Card’s market renovation and revitalization project. The 103-year-old Songjeong Station Market, Gwangju, was given some trim and facelift resulting in a jump of daily visitors to 4,300 in May 2016 from 200 in May 2015.^[23] Bongpyeong Market Project in 2014 conserved the basic infrastructure of the market and adopted exterior design in each shops under the slogan of “Development for Sustainability”, encouraging merchants to strive for change.^[24] Dream Realization Project has helped mom and pop store owners to give a boost to their operation by adopting design factors. A total of 10 stores ranging from grocery, bistro, beauty shop, delicatessen and others have been provided with management consulting, interior redesigning and others to change their operations. The stores have since then seen a sales rise by an average of two-folds.^[25]

Marketing

Cultural Marketing

A total of 23 sessions of Hyundai Card Culture Project have been held since 2011, ranging from musical concerts to exhibitions and others.^[26] Hyundai Card Super Concert has featured world-renowned superstars such as R&B artists Usher and Beyonce, singer-songwriter Billy Joel and former Beatle and pop artist Paul McCartney.^[27]

Space Marketing

Vinyl & Plastic by Hyundai Card, opened in June 2016, located in Itaewon in Seoul, Korea, boasts curated collections of over 4,000 vinyl LPs and 8,000 CDs, covering a wide variety of musical genres. Storage by Hyundai Card, located in the same building as Vinyl & Plastic, is an exhibition space showing a selection of contemporary pieces from a variety of disciplines, spanning art, film, architecture and design.^[28] Hyundai Card Music Library & Understage, opened in May 2015, are located on the main street of Itaewon in Seoul. The library is where visitors can enjoy an analogue music culture while the "Understage" is a cultural space for musicians of all genres. The library features collections of more than 10,000 vinyl albums including around 250 rare albums since the 1950s and onward. There are also 3,000 music related publications. The Understage aims to host a wide range of performances.^[29] Hyundai Card Travel Library, opened in May 2014, is filled with 15,000 books and maps of 91 different cities in Chungdam-dong in Seoul, Korea. Designed by the interior designer Katayama Masamichi of Wonderwall with the concept of “stock of curiosity”, the Library not only features a book collection based on 13 themes but also contains elements that touches different perspectives of travel.^[30] In February 2013, Hyundai Card Design Library, located in Gahoe-dong, central Seoul, displays 11,500 design-related books that have been published at home and abroad. About 70 percent of the books are rarely procured across the world, among which about 3,000 books are either out of print or had not been introduced here.^[31] Hyundai Card Card Factory is located in Hyundai Card HQ 3, and shows the whole automated process of card production from plate issuance to the reviewing and packing.^[32]

See also

• Hyundai Card Site
• Hyundai Card Homepage(local)

References