Over the weekend, this burningpants correspondent was at a Westfield Shopping Centre and came across an empty bank kiosk – similar to the kiosks that phone companies have in the middle of the shopping centre aisles.
This is a curious tactic, but can it work?
These kiosks have ATMs, Internet banking access and you can even open an account. But the interest was lacking, with no one queuing, browsing the pamphlets or using the computers to do their banking.
We know that when it comes to researching new products, most people prefer to do their own research and prefer to do it online. We also know that most people like to have privacy when they are doing their banking, so while a kiosk set up to provide an online service ticks the first box, the fact that it’s open and in the middle of a busy shopping complex is a cross in the latter.
Customers also want branches that are conveniently located (tick), but which they can access quickly and easily from the street – i.e. park the car in front of the branch (cross).
Branches are an unusual concept with banking customers. The customers want the branches to be there, yet research shows they’re increasingly less likely to use them since the majority of their banking needs can be catered for online through Internet banking.
Customers usually visit a branch to deposit a cheque, open a new account or want the face-to-face interaction and customer service for more complex banking needs such as taking out a mortgage.
A branch with its bricks and mortar is really a symbol more than something that is practical or useful.
The physical presence of a branch implies the safety/security of a bank, which is stable. Historically, banks were in large, imposing buildings typical of a neoclassical architecture style. Now they are smaller and are generally located in large shopping centres.
Given this attachment we have to physical branches, how is it that Ubank has been so successful with just an online presence? The bank has built its offer purely on utility for the customer and has not been shy in promoting NAB as its parent – a Big Four bank (with lots of branches).
Bank branches appeal to three of the five senses: sight and touch (with the bricks and mortar) and sound (when you see and talk to a person face-to-face). Online banks appeal to sight (via their web interface) and the convenience and utility they offer customers may render some of the other aspects provided by bank branches irrelevant over time.
Westpac obviously thinks it’s more a case of evolution than extinction, having just announced it is bringing a lounge-style branch to over a third of its branches at a cost of $240 million. You hope at these costs that the bank gets it right! срочный займ на карту займ в удомлезайм сыктывкармфо даем займ