Translated from Beijing Stardaily
04 Jul 2007
A new application has been developed for the Beijing Transportation E-Card. Yesterday, the reporter learned from Beijing YTZL that following the completion of a pilot run in 8 QUIK convenience stores, the E-Card can be used for shopping in all 110 QUIK stores by the end of this month.
It is said that the pilot run of shopping in supermarkets with the E-Card began in May, and was completed in 8 QUIK stores by the end of June. "In the current 8 QUIK stores, the daily E-Card transactions are around 20 (per store)," said Mr. Lu Hongfa, CEO of Beijing YTZL.
By the end of this month, the E-Cards can be used for shopping in more than 100 stores. "We will deploy free terminals in all QUIK stores — by then the consumers can use the E-Card for shopping," added Mr. Lu. There are currently around 110 QUIK stores in Beijing.
Furthermore, YTZL also plans to build a complete commercial network within the next two years. "On one hand, we will work with the supermarkets which are already the charging point to expedite the installation of [a shopping] system; on the other hand, we will start negotiations with other industries, including restaurants," said Mr. Lu. Through June 19th, the number of issued Transportation IC cards has reached 11.55 million. The charging points, besides transportation stations, also include 300 stores from Good Neighbors, QUIK, Jian Hypermarket, and JingKeLong.
However, because the E-Card can only be charged with a maximum of RMB 1,000, most E-Card payments are in small amounts. "The pilot run shows that the average payment per transaction is around RMB 10," said Mr. Lu. Regarding the complaints from a few consumers that it's easy to shop with E-Card but difficult to get refunded, Mr. Lu confirmed that customers can receive refunds for E-Card purchases. He also mentioned that in order to promote the usage of E-Cards, YTZL plans promotional activities such as discount and gift point programs in cooperation with the merchants.