Changing boundaries and structure of a technological system: lessons from UK retail banking

This article investigates the factors that have induced and shaped the process of industry evolution of banking in the United Kingdom and, in particular, the reorganization of the retail payments system. It will look at how the effects of technical progress within a changing regulatory framework have contributed to the flourishing of new consumer services, of increasingly specialized technologies and of new models of business organization. In relation to these issues, the paper develops an interpretative framework based on the rapidly expanding body of literature on technological systems. In so doing it argues also that the organization of the payment system has evolved towards a multilayered and increasingly heterogeneous industry in which competition has been fuelled at different levels by the growing diversity of the ecology of agents involved, as well as by the emerging patterns of interaction across them.

Changing boundaries and structure of a technological system: lessons from UK retail banking

This article investigates the factors that have induced and shaped the process of industry evolution of banking in the United Kingdom and, in particular, the reorganization of the retail payments system. It will look at how the effects of technical progress within a changing regulatory framework have contributed to the flourishing of new consumer services, of increasingly specialized technologies and of new models of business organization. In relation to these issues, the paper develops an interpretative framework based on the rapidly expanding body of literature on technological systems. In so doing it argues also that the organization of the payment system has evolved towards a multilayered and increasingly heterogeneous industry in which competition has been fuelled at different levels by the growing diversity of the ecology of agents involved, as well as by the emerging patterns of interaction across them.

An Exploratory Study on Customer Responses to Personalized Banner Messages in the Online Banking Context

In the 21st century the quantity of research on personalization has grown exponentially. New technologies enable efficient interaction with customers, even on one-to-one basis, providing the right content in the right format to the right person at the right time. The latest developments with “big data” analytics promise unprecedented opportunities for personalization, even in real-time. Although the technological advances allow fancy enhancements in personalization, it is imperative that the context-specific customer attitudes towards online personalization are taken into account by businesses. Customers are increasingly aware of their privacy, which improper personalization may intrude. This article presents the results of a two-phase study. Focus group interviews uncovered first the perceptions of bank customers regarding personalized marketing communication on online bank. A subsequent exploratory study investigated the online behaviour of customers, that is, their genuine responses to personalized messages. In this phase, bank customers were shown personalized banner advertisements when they logged in to their bank service. We studied, among others, the click-through rates and navigational behaviour and compared the effectiveness of personalized banners to default banners, and to traditional direct-mail messages. The personalized banners attracted more attention than default banners. In two of the three cases, the actual sales were also higher than in the case of direct-mail promotion. The results offer implications both for research and practice

Marketing relations and communication infrastructure development in the banking sector based on big data mining

Purpose: The article aims to study the methodological tools for applying the technologies of intellectual analysis of big data in the modern digital space, the further implementation of which can become the basis for the marketing relations concept implementation in the banking sector of the Russian Federation‘ economy. Structure/Methodology/Approach: For the marketing relations development in the banking sector in the digital economy, it seems necessary: firstly, to identify the opportunities and advantages of the big data mining in banking marketing; secondly, to identify the sources and methods of processing big data; thirdly, to study the examples of the big data mining successful use by Russian banks and to formulate the recommendations on the big data technologies implementation in the digital marketing banking strategy. Findings: The authors‘ analysis showed that big data technologies processing of open online and offline sources of information significantly increases the data amount available for intelligent analysis, as a result of which the interaction between the bank and the target client reaches a new level of partnership. Practical Implications: Conclusions and generalizations of the study can be applied in the practice of managing financial institutions. The results of the study can be used by bank management to form a digital marketing strategy for long-term communication. Originality/Value: The main contribution of this study is that the authors have identified the main directions of using big data in relationship marketing to generate additional profit, as well as the possibility of intellectual analysis of the client base, aimed at expanding the market share and retaining customers in the banking sector of the economy.peer-reviewe

Buying Better For Your Money: The Smart Buyer’s Decalogue

There are lot of papers offering information on products and services. Some of them are potentially useful to consumers, while others remain simple and incomplete pamphlets without insight or significant research information. In their majority, these papers only analyze the consumers (in) satisfaction degree. This paper shows what to look for in comparing values of many basic frequently bought items and suggest potential good advices for valuable buys. This is more a philosophical attempt than an unreleased approach to determine what sources offering values can be used as basic personal comparisons issued on a large selectivity and low expenses. Smart shopping is a new concept that we are proposing to be studied. In our persepctive its field is greater than the simple purchase to cover a certain need that can open new areas of research, complex, n –dimensioanllz dynamic, ready to fit the new perception to see the consumer as an important busienss partner. The success in shopping is attainted when both consumer and sellers get fulfilled under a valuable partnership. With plenty of money, most could satisfy hidden and hollow hungers. But wise shopping isn’t only about money. Beyond the today shopping conditions buffing quite well, there are still people that get confusion and expenses. As such thing doesn’t make money to buy more, everything should be about buying wisely. Emotionally connected to increase personal satisfaction this can also make the shopping a sound activity. If consumers have learned their expenses lesson, this is the right time to learn something new, that shopping must be a pleasant activity in saving money, time and feelings, for both individual and society benefit.customer rights, rational purchases, smart shopping, partnership value

Newsletter / House of Finance, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt 4/10

Credit Rating Announcements – The Impact of the Agency’s Reason, Public Information, and M&A ; Toward a New European Financial Architecture in the Rating Sector – an Economic Analysis and Legal Solutions ; Where Finance Meets Macro ; Clear Enforcement rules for the Stability and Growth Pac

Covid-19 crisis: Opportunity for banks to reshape service models and foster digital transformation

The coronavirus situation is causing widespread concern and economic hardship for society, consumers and businesses worldwide. As for entire world, COVD-19 is the most serious challenge to financial institutions in long time. Banks are called upon to manage this new phase with urgency and aptness, to help deflect a worldwide recession. Until recently, majority of banks were focused on empowering both the psychical and digital distribution models. The “new normal” calls for reassessing of priorities and pushes new distribution model where psychical and digital are combined and act as one, with interconnected capabilities. This paper highlights importance of long-term positioning in post covid world, as market forces and customer behavior potentially change coming out of this crisis. In order to manage revenue and customer expectations, new customer-centric and digital based ecosystem should be established, leveraging on the latest technologies, aiming at increasing remote sales and market penetration. Having that in mind, article aims to shed light on key factors important for retail banking success in this “new future”

Multichannel in a complex world

The proliferation of devices and channels has brought new challenges to just about every organisation in delivering consistently good customer experiences and effectively joining up service provision with marketing activity, data and content. A good multichannel strategy and execution is increasingly becoming essential to marketers and customer experience professionals from every sector. This report seeks to identify the key issues, challenges and opportunities that surround multichannel and provide some best practice insight and principles on the elements that are key to multichannel success. As part of the research for this report, we spoke to six experienced customer experience and marketing practitioners from large organisations across different sectors. In Multichannel Marketing: Metrics and Methods for On and Offline Success, Akin Arikan (2008) said: ‘Because customers are multichannel beings and demand relevant, consistent experiences across all channels, businesses need to adopt a multichannel mind-set when listening to their customers.’ It was clear from the companies interviewed for this report that it remains challenging for many organisations to maintain consistency across so many customer touchpoints. Not only that, but the ability to balance consistency with the capability to fully exploit the unique attributes of each channel remains an aspiration for many. The proliferation of devices and digital channels has added complexity to customer journeys, making issues around the joining up of customer experience and the attribution of value of key importance to many. Whilst senior leaders within the organisations spoken to seem to be bought in to multichannel, this buy-in was not always replicated across the rest of the organisation and did not always translate into a cohesive multichannel strategy. A number of companies were undertaking work around customer journey mapping and customer segmentation, using a variety of passive and actively collected data in order to identify specific areas of poor customer experience and create action plans for improvement. Others were undertaking projects using sophisticated tracking and tagging technologies to develop an understanding of the value and role of specific channels and to provide better intelligence to the business on attribution that might be used to inform future investment decisions. A consistent barrier to improving customer experience is the ability to join up many different legacy systems and data in order to provide a single customer view and form the basis for delivery of a more consistent and cohesive multichannel approach. Whilst there remain significant challenges around multichannel, there are some useful technologies allowing businesses to develop better insight into customer motivation and activity. Nonetheless, delivery of seamless multichannel experience remains a work-inprogress for many

Drivers for Adoption of Retail Banking Strategies in Kenya

The Purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that influence the adoption of retail banking strategies in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were: to examine the extent to which changing customer preferences affect adoption of retail banking strategies in Kenya; to  assess the extent to which competition affects adoption of retail banking strategies in Kenya; to evaluate the extent to which technology affects adoption of retail banking strategies in Kenya. A descriptive design was used to undertake the current research. The population of interest in this study was all commercial banks in Kenya. According to the Central Bank of Kenya report as at 31st December 2010, there were 42 commercial banks in Kenya. A representative sample of 21 commercial banks, representing about 50% of the whole population was selected using stratified random sampling technique. Primary data was collected with the aid of a semi-structured questionnaire. The researcher personally collected the questionnaires. In addition, personal interviews were conducted with 6 of the respondents selected at random. For purposes of the current study, the data was analyzed by employing descriptive statistics such as frequencies, mean scores and standard deviations. The findings of the study indicate that customer preferences influenced the adoption of retail banking strategies. Specifically, customer preferences influenced adoption of the following practices, in order of strength:- reduction of minimum balances to open and maintain account; product diversification; market differentiation; and availability of a personal banker in the branches. Ranked the least was installation of Automated Teller Machines. The findings of the study further indicate that competition influenced the adoption of retail banking strategies. Specifically, competition influenced adoption of the following practices, in order of strength: - product diversification; market differentiation; increased branch network; and reduction of minimum balances to open and maintain account. The least ranked activities were personal selling of bank products and offering bank products online. Further, the findings indicate that Technological changes influenced the adoption of retail banking strategies. Specifically, technological changes influenced adoption of the following practices, in order of strength: - offering bank products online; installation of Automated Teller Machines; and product diversification. In conclusion, changes in customer preferences have also imposed changes in decisions related to offered services, as these services need to be of high quality in order to satisfy today’s demanding clients. The perceived value of the products and services of banks must be proportional to the prices charged while distribution means should be used in order to achieve a high level of satisfaction. Competition has influenced the strategic importance of satisfaction, quality and consequently loyalty, in the battle for winning consumer preferences and maintaining sustainable competitive advantages. Great attention is paid to all the bank-customer touch-points, aiming to optimize the interaction, towards affecting specific customer behavior variables. The use of information technology in retail banking creates unprecedented opportunities for the banks in the ways they organize financial product development, delivery, and marketing via the Internet. Keywords: Retail banking strategies, Changing customer preferences, Competition, Technolog