Strategic Analysis on EasyCard Entering Micropayment Market

2009 年1 月13 日，立法院通過《電子票證發行管理條例》，賦 予儲值新台幣一萬元以內的電子票證可以用於小額消費，強化現有電 子錢包的功能。過去，非銀行機構不得發行「開放系統」的儲值卡， 造成不同店家各自發行自有儲值卡的亂象，法案通過之後，一卡將可 擴大使用範圍，而這一年一千億元的龐大商機將由誰來整合，卡商們 無不卯足全力競爭。以發卡量與使用者多寡來看，目前最有機會勝出 者將是悠遊卡公司，但便利超商的龍頭老大—統一集團i-cash、和眾 多通路聯盟進行集點優惠的遠東集團HappyGo，都是強勁競爭對手。 本研究主旨在討論悠遊卡公司進入台灣小額付款市場的策略分 析。首先介紹台灣電子錢包產業的發展現況與產業錬結構，接著以香 港八達通和日本Felica 兩國的成功經驗做為標竿企業做為借鏡，再 藉由五力分析，了解台灣電子錢包產業動態與競爭情況，之後利用競 合理論的改變賽局要素，也就是參賽者、附加價值、規則、戰術、及 範圍，來分析悠遊卡公司如何在目前的競爭態勢下改變賽局，以獲取 最大利益。 最後，本研究並透過成本效益分析，討論假設悠遊卡公司在整合 全台大眾運輸工具、便利超商付款與加油站小額付款三個通路領域 後，於不同的清分算手續費率與使用電子錢包付款的比例下，成本效 益的比較情形，並做出結論，得知此一產業固定成本極高，而毛利率 極低的特性，若投入整合活動短期內難以回本，而因其無形效益極 高，又有網路外部性效益，故建議政府對此一特性產業予以扶持，以 為人民帶來更高福祉。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