Strategic Analysis on EasyCard Entering Micropayment Market
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Cheng, Yu-Shan
Abstract
On January 13, 2009, the Legislative Yuan passed the "E-
ticket Issue Regulations" to allow the e-ticket could be
used for under NTD 10,000 micro-consumption to strengthen
the functions of existing e-wallet. In the past, non-bank
institutions were not allowed to issue the “open-system”
prepaid card, resulting in the chaos that many companies
have issued their own cards. As the regulation passed, the
scope of using a single card for consumption would be
expanded. In this juncture, however, no one knows for sure
who will be the integrator of such a promising market,
valued at NT100 billion per year. Therefore, all card
issuers strive their best to compete with others. On the
basis of the volume of issues and users, the EasyCard
Company is most likely to be the winner, but i-cash card
and HappyGo card are two potent competitors. I-cash card is
issued by the leader of convenience stores, the Uni-
president Co., Ltd, and HappyGo card is issued by the Far
Eastern business group, both have a large number of
channels and generous rewarding programs.
The purpose of this study is to discuss and analyze the
strategy as the EasyCard Company entered the Taiwan
micropayment market. At first, the development, the current
status, and the value chain of the Taiwan e-wallet market
are introduced. In addition, the successful experience of
the benchmark companies, the Octopus in Hong Kong and the
Felica in Japan, is discussed. Third, with the Five Forces
Analysis, the dynamics and the competition of Taiwan e-
wallet market are elaborated. Followed by the use of the Co-
opetition Strategy, it attempts to propose the elements for
the EasyCard Company to change the game under such keen
competition to maximize the profits.
Finally, with the Cost-benefit Analysis, the scenarios
of the cost-effectiveness comparison are discussed if the
EasyCard Company integrates the three micropayment
channels, including public transportations, convenience
stores, and gas stations, together with the different fees
and the proportion of using e-wallet. The research results
show that the characteristics of this industry are high
fixed costs and low margins. It means that it is hard to
recover the investment costs in the integrated activities
in the short run. Moreover, due to the extremely high
intangible benefits and network externalities, it is
suggested that government should support this industry to
bring the higher well-being to the community.
Subjects
E-wallet
Five Forces Analysis
Co-opetition Strategy
Network Externality
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