• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.111-133
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• 2010

Marketing financial services used to be easier. Today, the competition in financial services is fierce. Not only has the competition become more intense, financial services have also changed structurally. In an environment with various customer needs and severe competitions, the marketing in financial services industry is getting more difficult and more important than before. However, there are still not enough studies on financial services marketing in Korea whereas lots of research papers have been published frequently in some international journals. The purpose of this paper is (1)to review the literature on financial services marketing, (2)to investigate current marketing activities based on in-depth interview with financial marketing managers in Korea, and (3)to suggest some implications for future research on the financial services marketing. Financial products are not consumer products. In fact, they are not products at all in the way product marketing is usually described. Nor are they altogether like services. The financial industry operates in a unique way, and its marketing tasks are correspondingly complex. However, the literature review shows that there has been a lack of basic studies which dealt with inherent characteristics of financial services marketing compared to the research on marketing in other industries. Many studies in domestic marketing journals have so far focused only on the general customer behaviors and the special issues in some financial industries. However, for more effective financial services marketing, we have to answer following questions. Is there any difference between financial service marketing and consumer packaged goods marketing? What are the differences between the financial services marketing and other services marketing such as education and health services? Are there different ways of marketing among banks, securities firms, insurance firms, and credit card companies? In other words, we need more detailed research as well as basic studies about the financial services marketing. For example, we need concrete definitions of financial services marketing, bank marketing, securities firm marketing, and etc. It is also required to compare the characteristics of each marketing within the financial services industry. The products sold in each market have different characteristics such as duration and degree of risk-taking. It means that there are sub-categories in financial services marketing. We have to consider them in the future research on the financial services marketing. It is also necessary to study customer decision making process in the financial markets. There have been little research on how customers search and process information, compare alternatives, make final decision, and repeat their choices. Because financial services have some unique characteristics, we need different understandings in the customer behaviors compared to the behaviors in other service markets. And also considering the rapid growth in financial markets and upcoming severe competition between domestic and global financial companies, it is time to start more systematic and detailed research on financial services marketing in Korea. In the second part of this paper, I analyzed the results of in-depth interview with 20 marketing managers of financial services companies in Korea. As a result, I found that the role of marketing departments in Korean financial companies are mainly focused on the short-term activities such as sales support, promotion, and CRM data analysis although the size and history of marketing departments to some extent show a sign of maturity. Most companies established official marketing departments before 2001. Average number of employees in a marketing department is about 58. However, marketing managers in eight companies(40% of the sample) still think that the purpose of marketing is only to support and manage general sales activities. It shows that some companies have sales-oriented concept rather than marketing-oriented concept. I also found three key words which marketing managers think importantly in financial services markets. They are (1)Trust in customer relationship, (2)Brand differentiation, and (3)Rapid response to customer needs. 50% of the sample support that "Trust" is the most important key word in the financial services marketing. It is interesting that 80% of banks and securities companies think that "Trust" is the most important thing, whereas managers in credit card companies consider "Rapid response to customer needs" as the most important key word in their market. In addition, there are different problems recognition of marketing managers depending on the types of financial industries they belong to. For example, in the case of banks and insurance companies, marketing managers consider "a lack of communication with other departments" as the most serious problem. On the other hand, in the case of securities firms, "a lack of utilization of customer data" is the most serious problem. These results imply that there are different important factors for the customer satisfaction depending on the types of financial industries, and managers have to consider them when marketing financial products in more effective ways. For example, It will be necessary for marketing managers to study different important factors which affect customer satisfaction, repeat purchase, degree of risk-taking, and possibility of cross-selling according to the types of financial industries. I also suggested six hypothetical propositions for the future research.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.125-141
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• 2011

There have been some research papers on financial services marketing, but there are only few exploratory studies that analyze characteristics of financial consumers in Korea. This study examines, based on FGI and web survey results, which factors consumers consider more important when choosing their financial services. I found that 'product profitability' is the most important factor when consumers choose their financial services, followed by 'relational benefits', 'convenience', 'product diversity', 'company stability', 'branch satisfaction', and 'social responsibility' in order of importance. The study also showed that there are differences in perception of these important factors depending on the types of consumers such as gender, age, size of financial assets, degree of risk-taking, and main financial company they are using. This study hopefully provide implications to marketing managers in financial services that they could decide which factors they have to focus on more when planning marketing strategies. Another objective of this study is to provide useful insights to the future researchers in financial services marketing.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.269-286
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• 2007

Business Incubators(BI) guide starting-up firms through their growth process and as such constitute a strong instrument to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. This study classified the incubating services into communication, physical facilities, human resources, marketing, financial, legal, technology, and networking services. The research problem was tested with data from 103 BI centers and 561 starting-up firms in BI. The results from the survey are as follows: First, incubating services to important for the BI's performance are networking, communication, human resources, physical facilities, and marketing services. Second, the incubating services to satisfy on the firms in the BI are financial, human resources, marketing, communication, networking, and physical facilities services. Third, there are the differences between BI center and the firms in the BI by each incubating service except communication service. Finally, the results of MSEM(Multi-group Structured Equation Modeling) indicate the communication and networking services are more strongly affected to the performance at the BI centers. Vice versa, the marketing and financial services are more strongly affected to the satisfaction at the firms in the BI centers. Starting-up firms in business incubators showed strong desire to receive better support in such fields as marketing and financial services. BI needs to recognize such demand and provide improved services in such areas. Starting-up firms did not recognize the utility and importance of services in networking with other firms and supporting human resources. BI needs to promote services in such areas. Concerning communication services and physical facility support service, both BI and starting-up firms showed satisfactory levels of services.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.89-101
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• 2013

With the growing importance of the financial industry, financial service companies need to better understand the behavior of consumers and develop effective marketing strategies accordingly. This study examines the key determinants in the satisfaction of financial services customers. According to the study, "satisfaction with branches," "product profitability," "corporate stability," "convenience" and "relational benefits" have an impact on the satisfaction levels. In particular, "branch satisfaction" was a vital factor for bank-centered customers, while "product diversity" was a key for securities-centered customers. This study will hopefully benefit not only financial companies, but also regulators and authorities in the finance industry.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.807-815
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• 2021

Microfinance is seen as a tool for poverty elimination by providing various services characterized as financial and non-financial to minority groups in the society to be included in the mainstream financial system. This paper seeks to examine the effect of microfinance institutions' (MFIs) financial and non-financial services on women's entrepreneurship and empowerment in Jordan as a developing country. To gain a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of microfinance services, the study is undertaken to address the question of what kinds of services are available and whether the MFI services are in line with the actual needs of women entrepreneurs to improve their performance. Hence, a qualitative approach was adopted in this study using semi-structured interview questions to collect data from twenty-four women entrepreneurs in Jordan. The results showed that, as regards financial services, the most important needs of women entrepreneurs include providing adequate financing with necessary financial facilities such as reducing interest, reducing monthly installments, and extending the grace period, while non-financial services should include holding specialized courses, accessing a counseling center, providing incentives and psychological support, marketing support, and monitoring and evaluation. This study concluded that factors associated with MFI play a crucial role to uplift women entrepreneurs and eliminate gender inequality.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.23-29
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• 2014

Purpose - This thesis aims to propose a method to help financial institutions improve their customers' convenience online and offline through a Bluetooth based App using the tool of a beacon. The emergence of smartphones in the 21st century and their increasing use makes it possible to search for information easily. Research design, data, and methodology - With the short-distance Bluetooth technology for smartphones, which finds users within a radius of 50m to provide the functions of message transmission and mobile payment, users can access information services and use mobile coupons in certain premises. Thus, beacon-based O2O technology has been developed. Results - This study offers a method of attracting customers through an O2O marketing strategy that overcomes the existing limitations of Web and Offline media. Conclusions -Since beacon technology has the advantage of more accurate positioning than GPS, financial institutions provide their product information for users through the basic function of a beacon, using an O2O (Online to Offline) marketing solution and, therefore, effectively enable customers to make relevant payments online and conduct their financial actions offline.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.1143-1152
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• 2021

The study aims to assess the impact of factors on the access to financial services by Vietnamese farmers. The number of respondents in this study is 402 household heads participating in six diverse agricultural value chains in Vietnam. The explanatory variables of the Multinomial Logit model estimates variables at the individual characteristics while the Mixed Logit model can combine the two types of variables together to estimate the effects simultaneously. On the other hand, the Ordinal Logit model is used to evaluate the determinants of the increase in the quantity of financial services used by individuals. The estimation results show that male-headed households have more access to financial services than females. Younger farmers are more likely to use formal financial services than the elderly. Financial literacy, land ownership, and shocks in agricultural production all have a positive impact on the probability of dealing with banks. In addition, the degree of linkage and credibility of the value chain have a significant positive impact on the accessibility of financial services to farmers. The findings of this study suggest that limiting gender inequality, focusing on youth marketing and developing agricultural value chains will have a positive impact on farmers' access to financial services.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.1-25
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• 2022

The financial MyData service has implemented in January 2022 and launched 45 services by banks, securities, credit cards and fintech companies. This study applied the Q methodology, to identify the user types of MyData services and compared the perceptions of employees of financial institutions who plan and develop the MyData services. There are three types of MyData service users: active users, limited users who focus on consumption and asset status inquiry, and sensitive users for personal information. There were two types of recognition of financial company employees. One is the active user support other is the sensitive user for personal information support. The analysis of subjective perceptions can be used as a reference for establishing a company's MyData service marketing strategy and establishing related policies to improve the MyData ecosystem.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.191-212
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• 2012

With the introduction of the Capital Market Integration Act in 2009, the new competitive scope and paradigm is opened in Korean financial services market. The change of financial industry and institutions will lead to the behavioral change of customers who consume and choose financial services. While researches from the financial perspective have been conducted, works from the marketing or customer oriented approach has long been relatively ignored. The purpose of this study is to investigate influencing factors and process of financial services customers' choice behavior. More specifically, the main theme is how to enhance customer brand loyalty and purchase intention through the perception of overall quality of the service product. An integrated conceptual model including antecedents, mediating variables and consequences is established through comprehensive literature reviews of extant works on environmental change, customer behavioral change and choice behaviors. Hypothesis testing is done with SEM analysis. According to the results, the attractiveness of financial product, the reputation of financial firm, and self-brand image congruence among exogenous variables make a positive effect on perceived overall quality. And perceived overall quality has a significant effect on brand loyalty.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.3
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• pp.257-285
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• 1999

Korea Postal Service(KPS) nowadays lies in competitive environment with alternative business such as door-to-door delivery service. Customers began to complain about postal service quality and ask the government to reform a public firm through management innovation. But, Korea Postal Service has not met the break-even point between it's revenue and expenditure because the service is under the government system and cannot independently make major decisions on products, pricing, services, personnel management, financial policies and etc. The objective of this study is to provide marketing planners and practitioners with some guidelines when they establish marketing strategies and to help marketers on theories and practical instructions about postal service marketing when they interact with customers. I. A field survey on both customer satisfaction and internal staff satisfaction was conducted to get some ideas for the marketing strategy planning. II. Practical guidelines and instructions were made for marketers to communicate with customers in various areas such as pricing, product, service demand, marketing channel, promotion, and etc. III. Some suggestions on marketing policies for planners and mangers in the marketing strategy were described including personnel resource as well as physical resource. IV. Special issues on small packet market and direct mail market were discussed and some alternative solutions were proposed. V. Database marketing strategy was emphasized to get new business opportunities such as direct mail, and to provide differential services to customers as much as their contribution into the profitability for KPS. VI. Cyber Post Office should be constructed on Internet to provide new services which are combined with physical material flow and information technologies.