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Simple Mart is a Taiwanese supermarket chain focusing on the needs of families in neighborhood communities. It was founded by Mercuries subsidiary Simple Mart Retail in 2006. Simple Mart’s business model consists of establishing shops in residential areas to make it easier for people to purchase daily necessities on their way home from work. Simple Mart offers the accessibility of convenience stores but with better value due to their small package size; at the same time, it provides the diversity of goods offered by supermarkets and hypermarkets in a smaller, customer-friendly and quick-service store. When mobile payment systems were developed, Simple Mart joined LINE Pay in 2018 and established its own digital membership in 2019.
In 2020, the number of offline members of the app grew to 2 million. At the same time, Simple Mart launched its digital membership business model with a multi-channel point reward system in cooperation with LINE Shopping. By the end of 2019, there were as many as 720 offline stores throughout Taiwan; thanks to the digital membership system, Simple Mart customers can make purchases with mobile payments both online and offline.
The pandemic has had a global impact on people’s habits and pursuits since 2020. Simple Mart, a chain that’s always there for the day-to-day needs of their customers, responding to this change with its own Simple Mart Stimulus Vouchers to complement the Taiwan’s Triple Stimulus Vouchers. This voucher set included a Mask Pre-Order Voucher, allowing customers to pre-order a box of 50 masks with a $200-NT-value Triple Stimulus Voucher; a $75-NT-value and two $30-NT-value Bonus Vouchers, which can be used in conjunction with Triple Stimulus Vouchers; and Co-branding Vouchers, which stimulate cross-platform spending by customers with allied companies such as Eslite, Uber Eats, Tomod’s, and Burger King. Not only did this set of vouchers help customers financially, it also demonstrated how the authority and businesses can work together to promote public spending. According to reports, Simple Mart’s sales on household goods grew by 30% in 2020 as a result of its collaboration with Triple Stimulus Vouchers.
2020 marks the first year of the digital transformation for Simple Mart. The Digital Applications Division was established under the IT Department to focus on digital transformation and precision marketing through electronic payments, digital marketing, and big data services with user tags. Simple Mart did not just develop its own platform; it also incorporated a wide range of electronic payment methods from different technical service providers. The goal is to increase customer familiarity with and use of technology and to reduce risks associated with marketing innovation. According to Simple Mart, electronic payments now exceed 10% of all payments, and that number is still growing. As the pandemic continues, Simple Mart has embraced the new digital consumption ecosystem with its advantageous digital platforms and business ecosystem by creating a new business model and optimizing the customer shopping experience.
Source: Simple Mart
