Young people’s online shopping driving debit card use, KBank says

Customers aged 21-35 are the biggest users of debit cards for offline shopping, said Noppawan Jermhansa, executive vice president of Kasikornbank.

Debit-card holders spent an average of Bt3,600 per card per month on online shopping in the first six months, up from Bt1,000 in the same period a year earlier.

A total of 17 per cent of debit-card spending was done on online.

She said travel, mobile applications and online advertising were the three categories where debit-card customers spent the most online.

But including offline shopping, motor fuel, supermarkets, furniture, dining and department stores are the top five categories for KBank debit-card users, she said.

Noppawan said customers were increasingly using debit cards instead of cash, and this trend is expected to take off after electronic data capture (EDC) has spread among small merchants nationwide, under the second phase of the national e-payment programme.

 

E-payment scheme

The bank expects spending with its debit cards this year will grow by at least 25 per cent from Bt45 billion last year thanks to the national e-payment scheme and the introduction of chip-based cards.

In the first six months, KBank’s debit-card spending grew by 20 per cent to Bt25 billion, maintaining the bank’s top rank in terms of market share at 38 per cent. Total spending in |the whole market was Bt66.8 billion.

Noppawan said that in the utility-payment segment, a lot more people used credit cards than debit cards, and KBank believes it will be able to grow in this segment. The key driver is younger people who don’t have credit cards yet. KBank yesterday announced a partnership with the Football Association of Thailand, introducing the Chang-Suek Kasikornthai Debit Card to support the Thai soccer industry. With each of these cards issued, KBank will give Bt100 to the association.

At least Bt30 million is expected to be presented to FA Thailand under this programme within the first year.