PUBLISHED ONJuly 20, 2021 1:00 AM
TAIPEI, July 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ningxia Night Market, which combines tradition with innovation, scaled up Taiwan's triple stimulus voucher policy by launching food coupons in small denominations and offering benefits with consumption promotions. It also stepped up its efforts in forming cross-industry alliances with mobile game operators and e-commerce platforms. As a result, holiday and weekend consumption in the Ningxia commercial district grew by 40 percent. In the second half of 2020, such actions for multiplying the effectiveness of the triple stimulus vouchers generated NT$60 million in revenues.
The Ningxia Night Market commercial district handed out 20,000 small denomination food coupons, exploiting the business opportunities created by the triple stimulus vouchers.
The long-standing Ningxia Night Market is fondly referred to as "Taipei's stomach." In recent years, it responded to the Taiwan's night market transformation plan by successively integrating digital technologies such as POS systems, online sales, digital payments, and delivery platforms, becoming the first night market in Taiwan to offer mobile payments. Ningxia Night Market first introduced digital payment services back in 2014, accepting payments via Groupon and EasyCard. In 2015, in response to the large number of Mainland China tourists, it became the first night market to offer Alipay, and also used a NT$30 million marketing subsidy to expand mobile payment services to the entire Ningxia Commercial District. As a result, numerous mobile payment platforms, including Jkopay, LINE Pay, and Taiwan Pay, launched mobile payment solutions in the commercial district. At present, 90 percent of Ningxia Night Market's vendors offer multiple payment methods.
The number of visitors to the commercial district dropped by 20 to 30 percent in the first half of 2020 due to the epidemic. Although alliances with food delivery platforms lessened the epidemic's impact, the overall performance was still adversely affected. After Taiwan announced the triple stimulus voucher policy, the Ningxia Night Market Commercial District Development Association correspondingly pushed out 20,000 food coupons valued NT$50 each for the public to redeem, resolving the problem of the triple stimulus vouchers' inability to provide change. This, combined with the marketing strategy of gift with purchase redemption, stimulated public consumption. The association also took advantage of the return of visitors brought about by the triple stimulus vouchers by increasing the number of cross-industry alliances, including with e-commerce platforms and online gaming companies, and also conducted joint sales activities with other night market commercial districts, effectively multiplying the effects of the triple stimulus vouchers for the commercial district. According to statistics compiled by the association, NT$20 million's worth of triple stimulus vouchers were redeemed in the second half of 2020, but the actual revenue brought to the commercial district was as high as NT$60 million.
Ningxia Night Market has achieved sustainable transformation through introducing digital technology, and has displayed digital resilience in spite of the havoc wreaked by the epidemic. With regards to future development, the association's director general hopes to actualize larger digital transformation projects through the value-added application of big data: "Too many people think having diversified payment methods equates to digital transformation. The key to a genuinely successful transformation lies in data application and talent management, the question of how to use data to add value."