This photo provided by Hyundai Card shows its new Starbucks cards.
SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Credit card companies are competing over Starbucks Coffee Korea Co., the local unit of the U.S. coffee giant, releasing new cards with exclusive benefits including free, limited editions of smartphone cases and higher discounts.
Hyundai Card Co. recently released its new Starbucks Hyundai Card, which offers Starbucks reward points every time a user spends 30,000 won (US$27.16).
The card was one of the most popular cards to be released in the last couple of years, the company explained.
Samsung Card Co. introduced an automatic credit card payment system at Starbucks drive-throughs last October that simply requires users to register their vehicle and a credit card for payment on the Starbucks app.
Shinhan Card Co. also introduced a new service last year allowing contact-free orders of Starbucks beverages via Shinhan Pay Fan, a mobile payment app.
Since many Starbucks customers demonstrate strong loyalty towards the coffee chain, card companies are willing to offer Starbucks exclusive benefits despite high marketing costs, experts have said.
Starbucks Coffee Korea opened 125 additional stores last year despite the pandemic, generating 1.4 trillion won (US$1.2 billion) in sales between January and September to exceed records set the previous year (1.3 billion won).
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
