This paper provides attitudinal information collected from mutual fund investors in the United States and Europe regarding various traditional and emerging distribution channels. The author proposes that channels be redefined according to whether products are sold with face-to-face contact between the investor and seller or the sellerâs intermediary. Furthermore, this paper argues that there are key strategic initiatives and marketing programs that can mitigate investor anxieties and leverage favourable perceptions of various channels. These data have been collected through qualitative and quantitative research.
The Dutch financial industry makes increasing use of new distribution channels. This paper describes the degree to which this influences Dutch consumer attitudes and behaviours. The paper is based on findings from a semi-continuous study. It explains the key factors which determine the use of new channels. Consumer groups are segmented in terms of attitudes and behaviours. In addition, this paper pays attention to the differences between several types of financial services in âdistribution sharesâ of channels. Information from this study is relevant to every supplier in the financial industry who is considering offering new channels to customers in the retail market.
The article presents how technical development, changing customer behaviour and lower barriers to entry into financial services markets open up opportunities for players from other industries to enter the industry traditionally dominated by banks. With their superior mastering of IT and its possibilities for distribution of products and services, lower costs and higher competence in specific fields, non-banks and near-banks are those benefiting most from the new competitive constellation. Faced with the threat of disintermediation and shrinking market share, banks have to act by embracing new concepts of distribution, making better use of IT and last but not least by colluding with their new competitors through strategic alliances and other forms of agreements.
Todayâs business environment is going through fundamental changes. Market saturation, increased commoditisation, shorter product life cycles and above all increased competition and business risks are influencing the way organisations see and plan to approach their customers. Customer asset value is increasingly becoming a key topic and relationship marketing is rapidly gaining importance. At the same time data warehousing technology is enabling companies to store and access large amounts of (hopefully) clean data on their customers. Knowledge discovery algorithms allow the detection of hitherto unknown patterns within these data. This paper shows how the combination of âsoftâ data from customer surveys with âhardâ data from databases can be combined within one single data model. This data model will allow powerful customer analyses, such as segmentations based on needs, profitability and attrition. Additionally causal modelling to find drivers of retention, forecasting up-selling potential, prospect acquisition and return on quality analyses will be reviewed.
The papers discuss new market developments and try to put findings from individual countries, product areas or customer segments into a broader context. The book brings together views of the industry from different angles with the aim of identifying the important trends that will shape the future strategies.
This paper describes how financial institutions in the United States and the affluent are responding to the availability of on-line investment services. It provides lessons learned to date in an ever fast-changing environment. The results are based on competitive intelligence interviews with executives of financial institutions, financial analysts, and proprietary research with affluent investors.
This paper discusses a large research project conducted to investigate factors impacting on the relationship between banks and their business clients in Australia. A survey was conducted during February - March 1999 with 276 executives and financial managers on their firms relationship with banks. Factor and regression analyses were used to identify the underlying factors of close and long-lasting relationships between banks and their business customers. The insight gained through the data analysis guided the process of model building using a structural equation modelling techniques. The model shows that the measure of trust is crucial to understanding bank-business customer relationship.
In coming years, the global asset management market will be affected by changes in the business, investment and legislative environment. In particular, changes to the way in which companies organise the provision of retirement benefits to their staff, and the need for governments to review and restructure pensions provision are likely to result in the growth of global asset managers, and the increasing importance of branding and distribution. Research among employers, their advisers and staff will be an important element in the success of financial institutions in meeting the future challenge.