Abstract:

Belgium's leading bank, the Societe Generale de Banque, operates on the international market, the corporate market (businesses large and small) and the private customer market. In 1974 a market survey showed that on the private customer market, the bank was particularly strong in the area of current accounts (13.7% share of the market) but in a weaker position as regards savings accounts (4.5% share of the market). The marketing department received a proposal from the Bank's technical services to launch a savings account, not in the traditional form of a savings "book" but in that of a genuine account in computerised form and for which the customer would be issued with statements. We were thus faced with the problem of marketing this technical innovation in the best possible way. Our market research was thus directed at determining the best way of launching the new product on the market.