Although China's credit card business has developed rapidly and has great potential, there is still a big gap compared with the mature foreign credit card market. First of all, judging from the number of credit cards issued, by the end of 2004, China had issued 762 million bank cards, including 98 million credit cards, accounting for 12.86% of the total card issuance, far below the average level of developed countries in the same period. In the same period, the credit card market share of developed countries and regions such as the United States, China and Hongkong all exceeded 80%. Moreover, from the perspective of per capita credit card holdings, China's per capita credit card holdings are only 0.6, while the per capita credit card holdings in the United States and South Korea reach 2. 1 and 7.9 respectively. Secondly, judging from the frequency of cardholders' card use, because the card use habits of cardholders in China are not yet popular, the frequency of cardholders' card use in the United States is only about115, and that in South Korea is 1/5. Third, from the perspective of the penetration rate of special merchants, the gap is more obvious. The penetration rate of merchants in the United States is close to 100%, while that in China is only 2%. Fourth, from the perspective of the proportion of card consumption, the total consumption of cards in Sweden, France, the United States, South Korea and other countries accounts for 63%, 55%, 27% and 35% of the total retail sales of social goods respectively, while the current proportion in China is only 4.6%. So what are the factors that cause the above gap and restrict China's credit card consumption?
Analysis on the deficiency of credit card consumption in China
Psychological short board problem
According to foreign experience, the conditions of high-quality credit card customers are: having a stable occupation or income, loving consumption and accepting debt consumption, and being willing and able to pay the interest brought by overdraft. Judging from the reality of our country, the vast majority of ordinary people in our country have no habit of debt consumption. This is because the consumption psychology respected by China's traditional consumption culture is embodied in an extraordinary consumption value. The Chinese nation is a nation that pays attention to inner cultivation and epiphany culture, and has the overall characteristics of introversion and harmony. Its consumption habits belong to moderate, internal control and moderate consumption types, and most of its consumption expenditure is always less than the income stock. Influenced by the traditional consumption culture, China consumers are used to cash transactions, and it is difficult to accept the modern credit consumption concept. In addition, at present, China's per capita income is still in a state of poverty, and the social security system in the period of market transformation is not perfect. The existence of various potential risks makes it impossible for China's consumption to undergo structural changes in a short period of time, that is, consumption will remain in a state of convergence as a whole, and there will be no substantial increase in credit consumption, overdraft consumption and credit consumption.
Accept the short board problem
As a credit loan and payment tool, the survival of credit card depends on whether it can be widely accepted, that is, whether there is a good acceptance environment. One of the important reasons why credit card consumption is not popular in China is the poor acceptance environment and inconvenient payment. First, the number of special merchants is small. At present, there are only 200,000 special merchants in China who can accept online credit cards, which is less than 3% of the total number of merchants in China. In terms of ATMs, China has 40 ATMs per million people, while the number in developed countries reaches 1 100. The number of POS machines and ATM machines is limited, which seriously limits the scope of credit card consumption and inhibits the enthusiasm of consumers for credit card consumption. Second, the distribution of special merchants is uneven. Most of the large shopping malls and hotels located in developed areas, and most of the residents' daily consumption places cannot accept credit card consumption. This limits the popularity of credit card consumption to some extent. Third, the service attitude and product quality of special outlets are not satisfactory. Many consumers often think that credit card consumption takes more time than cash transaction, and credit card consumption is more difficult than cash transaction. So many people are reluctant to use credit cards for spending.