How to segment the banking and financial sector most effectively? Market segmentation State of existing market segments

This slice is for the hedgehog, this slice is for the snake...

(Children's song)

Macro-segmentation and micro-segmentation of the banking services market

Market segmentation is the basis for developing a company's marketing strategy. Knowing the characteristics of the resulting groups, the company can make a rational choice of who to target first; that is, identify target segments, understand how to differentiate yourself from competitors (product positioning) and what marketing efforts to make in each segment.

Why does a customer buy your product or service? What is his ultimate goal? Everyone has probably heard the saying at least once: “People don’t buy a drill, they buy the holes that the drill can make.” The same is the case with a bank and, in particular, with credit products. People do not take out loans to increase their financial status. They take them to achieve their goals, to implement plans: for example, to buy a sofa on which all family members will watch TV. In other words, the bank does not provide clients with money, but with convenience and coziness. It is with self-determination and understanding the essence of your business that you need to begin identifying your target market.

Selection of target segments: assessment of the attractiveness of segments; choosing a market coverage strategy.

Positioning: differentiation of market offer; choice of positioning direction; choice of positioning strategy; development of solutions on elements of the marketing mix.

First step in development marketing strategy consists of market analysis in order to understand the needs and preferences of customers and identify relevant groups or market segments.

Segmentation (segmentation) of the market is the process of studying consumers and forming homogeneous groups (segments) in terms of needs and reactions to the proposed marketing mix.

Market segment is a group of consumers with similar needs and behavior that differ from the needs of the rest of the market.

Market segmentation includes:

• identifying market needs,
• definition of characteristics and segmentation variables,
• characteristics of the identified segments.

Markets are made up of consumers who differ in a wide variety of ways. Buyers may differ in needs, geographic location, gender, age, income, purchasing attitudes and habits. Any of these parameters can be used to segment the market. Customer needs are the main variable in market segmentation. The Bank seeks to identify a segment consisting of clients who have similar needs that is, those who seek similar benefits and therefore perceive marketing efforts in the same way.

Determination of the principles and criteria of segmentation is based on the study characteristics buyers that marketers are able to describe or quantify: for example, geographic location, nationality, age, income, etc.

Main stages of market segmentation

There are various formal methods of market segmentation. The basis of all methods is marketing research. The main stages of the research are given below.

First stage - survey. The researcher conducts an informal survey of potential consumers and group discussions to understand their motivation, attitude towards the product and explore buying behavior.

Second stage- quantitative assessment, analysis. In the second stage, a formal questionnaire is designed and completed by a large group of respondents to quantify the differences. Various statistical methods are used to determine the most significant market segmentation variables, such as discrete or factor analysis, and then a specific number of clearly distinguishable segments is determined.

Third stage- definition of the segment profile. Task last stage- identifying the relationship between differences in needs and the characteristics or characteristics of consumers. At this stage, it is compiled general characteristics selected segment, which indicates its profile, behavioral characteristics, demographic and psychographic characteristics.

The banking market is heterogeneous and is divided into segments. What does segmentation actually do? It provides the bank with the opportunity to build communication with clients in such a way that the bank no longer advertises its product, but helps clients make the right choice.

Traditional segmentation methods are used to study banking services markets.

Under macrosegmentation refers to the identification of the underlying markets in which the bank intends to operate.

Basic markets are determined by generic needs rather than by needs for individual products.

In the banking market at the macro-segmentation level, as a rule, the following basic markets (client groups) are distinguished: corporate market (legal entity market); retail market (market individuals); credit financial institutions; government market.

Core markets, in turn, are divided into segments based on consumer preferences for individual banking products.

Microsegmentation- this is the division of each basic market (large segments) into groups of consumers who have different preferences for banking products and require special marketing approaches.

Corporate market. Basic segmentation variables corporate market:

• Turnover(sales revenue) - the most accessible and simple indicator characterizing the total volume financial activities companies.
• Geography- an important segmentation variable, often used in combination with other indicators.
• Production Features- the indicator characterizes the company’s field of activity, the specific features of corporate accounts, which allows us to understand which products the client is most interested in.
• Structure of subsidiaries- banks are interested in servicing large corporations with a network of subsidiaries.
• Number of employees- The size of an organization can be judged by the number of employees working in it. This indicator serves as a starting point when developing salary projects and issuing plastic cards.
• Export sales level acts as a variable characterizing the international activities of the corporation.
• Number and location of foreign offices and branches characterizes international activities. The use of this indicator should overlap with the geographical factor.
• Availability of working capital- an important segmentation variable when analyzing delivery credit services for the company.
• Current liabilities are used in analyzing the level of debt and the nature of management control over creditors.

An example of segmentation in the legal entity market is in Table 8.1.1.

An example of client segmentation by type of activity

Table 8.1.1

Zone: district Segment: small businesses		Prevailing location Quantity
Needs	Advantages services	Channels contact	Special Actions
convenient bank for all types of services need for lending advice interaction in problem solving, in the process of activity simple and quick procedures acquisition of real estate	current account with a loan on the terms: client payments, collection services, services for foreign trade transactions consulting leasing investment programs for capital accumulation	visit to the client meetings, conferences contact with reference groups	Presence in the association of MP of a bank employee to provide advice with notification of a visit to the client

Retail market. Segmentation retail market or individual clients is carried out based on a number of variables. There are four principles of retail market segmentation:

• geographical: by microdistrict, if the branch covers the district; by zone, if the sales point operates in a microdistrict;
• demographic: floor; age; family size; life cycle families; socio-economic characteristics;
• psychographic: personality type (passionate nature, lover of doing “like everyone else”, authoritarian nature, ambitious nature); lifestyle (traditionalists, life-lovers, aesthetes); social classes; financial styles (tendency to be cautious or take risks, to accumulate or go into debt, openness or reticence to new financial proposals) 1 ;
• behavioral: reason for making a purchase; the benefits sought (quality, service, savings); user status; intensity of consumption; degree of commitment.

For the retail market great value have psychographic factors that largely determine consumer behavior.

In table 8.1.2 shows an example of segmentation of the retail banking services market (individual market) based on the results of a study conducted by the Research Center V-RATI0 2.

Credit and financial institutions.

Particular attention in the market of credit and financial institutions is paid to correspondent banks.

The essence of correspondent banking relationships is that in the course of their activities, banks provide services to each other, act as each other’s clients, and represent interests in international markets.

Segmentation of consumers based on psychographic principles

Table 8.1.2

• 1 Shkarovsky S. I. Marketing in Russia and abroad. 2000. No. 3.
• 2 Ivashkova N. I., Glukharev K. A. Banking marketing: textbook, manual. M.: Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "REU im. G. V. Plekhanov", 2014.

End of table. 8.1.2

Indicator	Enthusiast			Intellectual
Attitude towards contribution	Overall neutral. Can change dramatically under the influence of advertising	Overall negative or neutral	Overall favorable	Overall neutral
Attitude towards high yield	Uncritically accepts promises of high interest payments	Wary. The announcement of high interest rates provokes distrust in finance	Positive. Moreover, there is a high profitability of participation of this type in the “game”	Neutral or negative
Attitude towards the risk of losing your money	This possibility is not considered at a rational level	The probability of losing your money is considered very high	Fully aware of back side high profitability	Fully understands the high degree of risk with high returns
Relation to specific financial institutions	Not expressed	Not reflected	Expressed. Able to classify financial institutions according to criteria	Expressed. Greatest ability to classify institutions according to criteria
	Active. Shows information	Active. Negative. Considers it a scam		Shows neither enthusiasm nor irritation with advertising
Some behavioral characteristics

Correspondent relationships are understood as a form of cooperation between banks in which they carry out each other’s orders on a mutually beneficial basis.

Selecting a suitable partner bank (correspondent bank) is a segmentation process. First of all, the geography of upcoming actions and the required types of banking operations are determined. The next stage of segmentation of credit institutions should be the identification of those that meet the conditions for creating sufficient spatial coverage and providing the necessary set of banking services. It is necessary to strive to ensure that the number of correspondent banks in one country is minimal, so that these are banks with a widely diversified network.

Government Market

The government market is represented by the treasury, federal and regional government agencies and local authorities authorities. The process of segmentation of this market looks rather arbitrary and depends on the specifics of banking services of certain government institutions.

There are two fundamental strategic decisions when choosing a target market.

• Starting from the client. In this case, the needs of potential clients are analyzed and what can be offered to them is identified.
• Based on the product. Based on the analysis of potential customers, they determine who needs the product.

An example of a “customer-driven” strategy is the development of service offerings.

3.2 Segmentation of banking products for different categories of firms and organizations

Having considered the composition of all possible consumers, it is possible to segment banking products for different categories of firms and organizations (Table 5). Such segmentation is very important, since a significant part of banking operations falls on the share of various categories of firms and organizations.

Table 5. Banking products for different categories business firms

Group	Examples of possible banking services
	Personal financial services and management planning real estate. Special “start-up loans” (including loans under government guarantee). Purchasing consumer goods on credit repayable in installments. Life insurance. Translation services money and accounting documentation
	Payment transactions, computer services related to financial activities. Credit cards for company employees. Leasing and factor operations. Medium and long term loans to replenish fixed capital.
	Transactions but payment wages. Consultations on issues business. Export and import services. Long-term lending.

As a result of such an analysis, the picture of the upcoming activity gradually becomes clearer, its individual parts (segments) are determined, acceptable forms are justified, and groups of consumers of banking products are formed, even in a preliminary form.

Studying all the market needs to satisfy which the bank's policy should be aimed may turn out to be an overly global task.

The bank may not have enough resources for such a study. Therefore, analysts usually reduce the dimension of the study and resort to studying segments for individual products or areas. Carrying out such a study is much easier and cheaper than analyzing the bank’s activities in many of its areas of work in the services market.

However, one should not assume that when analyzing segments for a single product (group of similar ones), one can neglect research into the current state of marketing in the bank’s existing segments. On the contrary, such research is necessary. But the restrictions introduced on the range of services being studied significantly simplify the tasks facing the analyst.

The main effect achieved from the micro-approach to segmentation is to reduce the costs of conducting segmental market analysis. Note that this kind of research is available even to a marketer of a small bank.

3.3 Segmentation by the parameter product - banking product

For marketing segmentation of the market of banking products and banks, the leading credit institutions of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic were selected: North Caucasus Bank for Development and Reconstruction, BUM Bank, Moscow Industrial Bank, Sberbank of Russia, ROST Bank, Northern Sea Route Bank, Nalchik Bank. We will carry out segmentation taking into account such parameters as services offered by these credit institutions - product;

Let's take a product - a banking product - as a segmentation parameter.

Table 6. Segmentation by banking services.

Banking products	SKBRR		IIB
1. Currency exchange	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
2. Accounting for commercial bills and provision loans enterprises enterprises	+	+			+	+
3. 3. Consumer	+	+	+		+	+	+
4. Mediation in	+		+		+
5. Savings deposits deposits	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
6. Storage of valuables	+	+		+			+
7. Cash settlement service	+	+	+	+		+	+
8. Financial consulting	+	+		+	+	+	+
9. Equipment leasing
10. Transactions with valuables papers	+	+			+		+
11. Trust services
12. Deposits	+	+	+	+	+	+	+

According to the table. The 6 most common services offered on the market of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic under study are:

currency exchange;

savings deposits;

· settlement and cash services;

· deposits;

·providing loans to enterprises;

·consumer loan;

·financial consulting.

But such information is not enough to choose a service; in addition, you need to know which banks provide service benefits for various social groups.

In order to make themselves known and strengthen their positions in the market, banks resort to advertising. Advertising serves banks not only as a means of establishing themselves in the market, but also helps promote services. Consequently, advertising as a policy for an institution to promote its services can be considered as a parameter for segmenting the banking services market. Let's consider one period - from January to December 2006. To do this, we will select the newspaper with the highest rating from the media (“Newspaper of the South”, “Sindika-Inform”, “Nalchik Express”, “Kabardino-Balkarian Pravda”). According to sociological research in the media, the most high rating occupied by "Newspaper of the South". Let's monitor the number of publications and the size of the occupied advertising space in this newspaper, owned by the banks of the republic (Table 7).

Banks	"Newspaper of the South"
	10.2005-10.2006
	Number of advertisements	Total area (cm")
North Caucasus Bank Development and Reconstruction	48	6*12.5
BOOM Bank	49	13 *13,5
Moscow Industrial	42	6 *7
Sberbank of Russia	48	7*7
ROST Bank	49	10 *13
Northern Sea Route Bank	18	6*4
Bank Nalchik	33	5 *8

In addition to the fact that the price of each square centimeter of advertising space has a certain value, there is also the fact that the cost of holiday rooms increases due to the congratulations of their clients and the population as a whole. For example, “Boom Bank” prints congratulations to the population every holiday, and the area is such advertising campaign on paper increases by 1.5 times compared to regular advertisements of the same bank.

According to the table. 7 it can be seen that banks such as Sberbank of Russia and BumBank most widely use advertising.

To fully understand banks' advertising costs, it is necessary to study the use of other advertising media (television, radio). To influence the consumer, banks use not one, but several means. Therefore, different methodological approaches to the segmentation process can be used.

To summarize, we note that during the analysis, the banks that were most widely engaged in marketing activities and attracting customers were identified. The services provided by banks to clients were identified, and the bank with the widest range of services was identified.

As a result of the work done, it was revealed that segmentation provides banks with the following opportunities:

·find your market area;

·correctly develop and implement all elements of mix marketing for each segment.

Thus, when starting to actively seek new opportunities, the bank must be guided by clear principles of increasing its security and stability, without exposing itself to increased financial risk.

Based on the data obtained as a result of the analysis, the bank’s management should build a further strategy and marketing tactics, which will create a developed banking infrastructure, taking into account consumer requirements, and significantly increase the demand for banking products.

Conclusion

It is quite understandable and natural that every manufacturer wants to create and sell products that can satisfy the maximum number of consumers. But in real life this is hardly possible, since consumers have different attitudes towards the same product, use it differently, and most importantly, purchase it for different reasons.

Therefore, it seems appropriate to divide the market into separate segments in accordance with the motivation of consumers and their specific characteristics. Segmentation is the division of end consumers of a certain product into separate classes and groups that unite consumers with similar consumer preferences. Segmentation is based on classification and statistical grouping techniques.

Market segmentation represents, on the one hand, a method for finding parts of the market and determining the objects at which the target marketing activities enterprises. On the other hand, it is a management approach to the enterprise’s decision-making process in the market, the basis for choosing the right combination of marketing elements. Segmentation is carried out with the aim of maximizing consumer satisfaction in various products, as well as rationalizing the manufacturer’s costs for developing a production program, releasing and selling goods.

Segmentation is based on a product characterized through its consumer properties. Segmentation assumes that there is a correspondence between consumer characteristics and product properties. The most complete result of segmentation is the identification of consumer groups both in terms of product properties and in terms of consumer characteristics. At the same time, compliance with the needs and targeting of the segment is achieved. Segmentation can be considered complete and complete when the differences between consumers in their attitude to the product are accompanied by identified differences in their characters, including, for example, gender, age, income and others.

Currently, the theory of segmentation has been developed quite deeply and widely known, and significant practical experience has been accumulated. However, there has been a decrease in the number of publications on segmentation. A significant part of the publications is of an applied nature and is developed in relation to various markets. The focus is on segmentation based on consumer characteristics. In this regard, there was a need to improve the segmentation methodology.

There is no single method of market segmentation. Therefore, firms and their marketing teams should consider and test segmentation options based on different parameters or principles. In practice, there are two approaches to segmentation bank clients(financial services market). One is typical for certified marketers, the other for certified financiers. The first consider bank clients as individuals (including company managers) and use segmentation based on socio-demographic factors. The latter completely ignore the concept market segment and conditionally divide clients into legal entities and population (retail and banking services).

Market segmentation can maximize unit profits rather than total revenues by targeting one segment. It also allows an enterprise with few resources to compete with large enterprises in the markets.

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Banking services market, represents the economic space in which supply and demand for such services collide. The banking services market is an integral part financial market Therefore, the main trends and factors of its development have a significant impact on the development of banking activities. The efficiency of a bank’s functioning in the market is directly related to the degree of customer satisfaction with the products offered by the bank. However, the needs, desires, and motives for purchasing banking products that underlie the demand for them have different characteristics for different clients and their groups.

In order to more thoroughly study and fully satisfy the needs of actual and potential customers, as well as reduce the risk arising from ambiguous consumer behavior, the market segmentation method is used.

Market segmentation represents a division of the market into homogeneous groups of service consumers, whose representatives react equally and quite predictably to the marketing tools used by the bank. Based on the market segmentation carried out, banks are able to regulate the market supply of services and products in accordance with the needs of each specific segment, developing long-term market strategies.

To effectively take into account customer behavior when conducting market segmentation, it is necessary that the selected segments be large enough and that the reaction of consumers forming the target segment to the bank’s actions differs significantly from the reaction of other segments.

Market segmentation is carried out in three stages:

• 1) segmentation criteria are selected;
• 2) segments are identified;
• 3) target segments are determined, i.e. those that will be of real interest to the bank.

Segmentation criteria The banking services market can be different, for example:

• According to the object of sale and purchase within the framework of the product structure of the market, the following segments can be distinguished:
  • – market for credit services;
  • – deposit services market;
  • – payment services market;
  • – investment services market;
  • – market for trust services;
  • - market consulting services;
  • – cash services market, etc.;
• Geographically, depending on the territory of the bank’s activities, the following can be distinguished:
• – local banking market, limited within the city, region;
• – national banking market – within one country;
• – international banking market;
• The client market structure is formed by client groups, in which we can distinguish:
• – wholesale market;
• – retail market;
• – market for services for government clients (state and municipal institutions, budgetary organizations);
• – market for services for financial and credit intermediaries (insurance companies, mutual funds, commercial banks, pension funds, credit cooperatives, etc.).

It is obvious that clients of each of these groups have both similar and specific needs for banking services, which determines the possibility of dividing them into homogeneous groups. A bank can focus on servicing all of these segments, or specialize in only one or several of them. Moreover, for each group it is necessary to develop and promote a special set of services on the market and apply special methods for their implementation.

Among customer segments special attention deserve the first two, which form the client base of most banks (based on the criterion “bank income from the client”) and require various models services that will best take into account the needs of clients and ensure an optimal ratio between the cost of service and specific profitability per client.

Wholesale market unites the bank's corporate clients, such as:

• – large corporations – enterprises and organizations with a large scale of activity. Their financial services needs tend to be complex and specific; in this regard, when interacting with such clients, special control is required on the part of bank employees and their high qualifications;
• – medium-sized companies – enterprises and organizations of medium-sized activities whose needs for financial services differ from standard ones. Banking services for such clients are less resource-intensive compared to representatives of the previous segment;
• – small business companies – small enterprises and individual entrepreneurs whose needs for financial services are standard and similar to the needs of large private clients, and whose behavior is easily predictable.

When segmenting corporate clients, you can also use additional criteria, for example: the nature and industry of activity, sales volume, the amount of equity capital, participation in export-import operations, the presence of branches and subsidiaries, the ratio of own and borrowed funds, the nature of the need for borrowed resources, etc. .d.

Retail market is also quite heterogeneous in its structure and customer needs and includes the following segments:

• – large private clients – very wealthy individuals with incomes significantly above the average level, who need individual financial products, as well as interaction with a personally dedicated bank manager;
• – wealthy clients – individuals with wealth and above-average incomes who follow innovations in banking sector, they need high-quality high-tech services;
• – mass clients – classic retail clients. These are individuals with an average level of income whose needs for financial services are standard and constant. Serving precisely such clients brings banks the main income from the retail segment;
• – low-income clients – individuals with little or no wealth and below-average incomes whose banking needs are limited simple services with low prices.

Each of the identified segments can be divided into smaller segments depending on the goals and objectives set by the bank.

So, corporate clients middle management are subject to additional segmentation in order to identify groups of clients with similar risks in their activities and behavioral characteristics. As an example, we can consider deeper segmentation by industry, in which bank clients are served by a small group of bank specialists due to the presence of a clearly expressed and similar group of needs. For example, construction organizations or enterprises food industry. At the same time, for each of the subsegments, a specialized marketing strategy is developed, taking into account the characteristics of this group of clients, a package of the most popular banking services is formed and promoted, with a special emphasis on the sale of highly profitable, non-resource-intensive banking products.

Using a specialized marketing strategy does not imply focusing on standard banking products and standard maintenance procedures. Each client is subject to individual marketing and financial analysis, strong connections are established with the bank’s management, and the functioning of the industry and the client’s activities are constantly monitored.

In segments large corporations and large private clients, it is necessary to form an integrated marketing approach to an individual assessment of the financial condition and needs of each client. Representatives of these segments are interested not so much in a one-time purchase of a banking product, but in full-function financial services on an ongoing basis. In this regard, the primary marketing tool for interaction with representatives of these segments is personal financial planning based on the individual characteristics and needs of clients. The result of using this approach should be the offer of a unique and flexible package of financial services that ensures the retention of such clients for a long period.

The bank's marketing activities in relation to retail clients (with the exception of large ones) tend to standardize based on pre-developed service algorithms.

Wealthy bank clients from the retail segment are subject to an initial marketing analysis to identify financial and behavioral indicators. This information helps the bank conduct in-depth segmentation and differentiate approaches to various groups of bank clients within a certain segment, offering each its own banking services and products that take into account its basic needs. Wealthy clients are offered specialized banking services that pretend to be individual, but are fairly standardized and streamlined, i.e. From the entire mass of available banking products, a banking product is selected that best meets the needs of a particular client.

The needs of mass retail clients are standard in nature, they do not need to be thought through anew each time; it is enough to develop a universal set of credit, deposit, settlement and cash services, within which each client will be able to choose the most suitable ones for themselves. The procedure for providing such services, as a rule, is worked out to the point of automation; the services themselves are provided in a large number of branches, which makes it possible to reduce average costs to a minimum as sales volumes grow.

Providing such banking services requires highly qualified bank contact personnel who directly interact with the client, since the offer of a particular standard banking product often involves explanations and expert assessments from specialists. It is the contact staff that is able to stimulate sales volume by offering related and additional banking services to the mass client. At the same time, after negotiations with contact personnel, further use of services is transferred to remote service channels as much as possible.

The effectiveness of interaction with a segment whose representatives have a low level of income is determined only by a reduction in the cost of service and greater automation of service provision processes. This approach is due to the irregularity of clients in this segment applying for banking services due to their few financial needs.

Other criteria for segmenting the retail banking market include: demographic, psychographic, and behavioral criteria.

When conducting market segmentation, the following requirements must be met:

• segments must be different from each other;
• each segment should include only customers with similar demand;
• customer characteristics must be measurable;
• each segment must be of sufficient size to balance sales and expenses;
• Participants in each segment must be available to carry out information influence on them.

Having determined the segmentation criteria and identified the segments, the bank must select target ones from them.

TO target segments include those selected segments that are of particular commercial interest to the bank. By concentrating its efforts on these segments, the bank achieves its goals. The need to identify target segments is usually due to the fact that it is difficult for a bank to provide high quality providing services to all customer groups. The exception is the largest banks with broad financial and organizational capabilities.

• Bagiev G. L., Tarasevich V. M., Ani X. Marketing: a textbook for universities / under general. ed. G. L. Bagieva. 3rd ed. St. Petersburg: Peter, 2005. P. 148.

Created 10/16/2013 07:21

Understanding the needs and desires of your clients plays a huge role in promoting banking products in the financial services market. But in conditions of active and sometimes fierce competition in the banking sector, understanding the needs alone is not enough. Therefore, in recent years, many banks have come to the need to segment their clients into different groups, and depending on these groups, offer clients a different set of products, with distinctive characteristics and features.

How to segment

In global banking practice, the following customer segmentation criteria are used:

• geographical
• demographic
• behavioral.

Separately, financial and quantitative indicators are identified for segmentation - average daily account balances, average monthly turnover, number of banking products in use, client profitability.

At the same time, banks approach customer segmentation comprehensively, and often combine various criteria to assess the client’s profitability for the bank.

Each group, according to segmentation, clearly demonstrates various features that must be taken into account when promoting and developing new bank products.

• Geographical criterion provides an understanding of the characteristics of consumption of banking products depending on the region, the number of residents in the city, and population density.

In fact, when choosing a product strategy for different cities or regions, such a criterion will help determine what customers are interested in exactly here. For example, in regions that have access to the sea, there is usually increased interest in bank card products, mainly in foreign currency. This is due to the fact that families of sailors live near the sea and are interested in receiving money transfers from abroad from their relatives.

• Demographic criterion is more specific in nature, since when using it, the bank can use the maximum possible number of indicators to group clients. The client’s age, gender, social and family status, and much more can be used here.

For example, for clients under 25 years of age, the bank can develop new loan products with more favorable conditions, but for smaller amounts than for more mature clients. We can separately highlight products for students, and also take into account that consumers of car loans are primarily men.

• Behavioral criterion in most cases it is secondary after primary segmentation, for example, by demographics. For existing clients this may be a determination of his activity, the status of the client, the level of client need for products. All this can be determined simply by analyzing your database, and depending on the results, develop your own strategy for these clients.

In practice, banks do just that. New attractive products are created for former clients. Potential clients are immediately offered packages of services. Passive customers are “entertained” with promotional products with a limited offer period. And the most loyal customers are pampered special offers with low rates or bonus conditions.

It is a little more difficult to segment and diversify product offerings based on financial performance.

Thus, the average daily account balance will give the bank an understanding of the client’s propensity to spend, but without additional analysis of account turnover, this indicator may become uninformative. After all, a client can place a large amount on his account one time, and not use it, and the balances fall into the segment of wealthy clients.

Also, such indicators are prone to rapid change. A turnover of 100 thousand US dollars in September can turn into a modest 10 thousand in October, and vice versa. To ensure correct segmentation based on such criteria, banks track their clients on a regular basis.

And here the most interesting segment for the bank stands out - VIP clients. It is based on financial indicators that this category of clients stands out, and for them commercial bank There is always a ready-made product strategy, premium service packages, and additional services.

How to use

Having determined the necessary target customer segments, the bank builds a matrix of banking product offerings.

By adjusting its indicators and plans throughout the year, the bank always knows exactly what resource it lacks - deposit or credit, commission income or increasing the volume of issuing plastic cards.

This is where clients segmented into groups come into play.

Already developed criteria and indicators in 15 minutes provide the bank with a list of clients who are inclined to apply for loans (based on behavioral characteristics). That's it - in a few days the bank will have an offer for these clients with a new loan product, and a convenient service for clients to submit an application to banks for a loan.

Does the bank need new deposits in foreign currency? A short-term deposit offer is being formed with increased rates in foreign currency, and is being actively promoted to clients with an average daily account balance of more than a certain certain amount.

Working correctly with your clients is the key successful sale your products!

CRM

In the context of the bank’s product strategy, it is impossible not to mention the magical software product- CRM. Customer relationship management provides valuable information for the bank - about the customer’s behavior, his interests, and needs. CRM will allow you to receive and correctly process the client’s reaction to changes and innovations in the bank’s product line, as well as correlate this information with existing client segments, and sometimes identify a new segment, which will subsequently make it possible to offer new product(or upgrade an existing one).

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Market segmentation is a complex and time-consuming process; it requires extensive experience, knowledge and practice in selling banking services. The purpose of segmentation is not simply to identify certain groups of consumers in a particular market, but to search for such consumers and users who have or may have significantly different requirements for this type of banking services. Market segmentation should not be reduced to the usual logical and statistical analysis of consumer groups, which does not bring practical results in the promotion of banking services. Segmentation is not a one-time, but an ongoing process, since the market situation changes, the needs and habits of consumers change, and the range of banking services itself changes.

Marketers usually identify several characteristics by which segmentation can be carried out. Geographic segmentation - it is usually built on a regional basis, based on domestic market a city or region acts as a separate segment (depending on population density or administrative structure).

Demographic segmentation has become widespread in the study of the banking services market, since demographic division is very closely intertwined with differences in the motivation of the survey. Consumer demographics are easy to classify and quantify.

Psychographic (behavioral) segmentation is based on studying the image and lifestyle of consumers of banking services. Among the distinctive features of consumer groups that are constantly under the control of banks, the sign of a regular customer is usually called.

Geodemographic segmentation - combines geographic and demographic segmentation and is based on the fact that population groups with similar tastes and habits, adhering to the same lifestyle, usually live in the same region or locality. In the Russian Federation, geodemographic segmentation may become most widespread due to the large number of so-called factory cities, in which both the lifestyle and behavior of the population are strictly determined by the specifics and conditions of production.

The opposite activity of segmentation is called market aggregation. In aggregation, the entire market is treated as a homogeneous segment to which a standardized service is offered.

There are other methods of market segmentation; their use is of a more private nature, due to the specifics of the bank’s activities or the peculiarities of the economic situation.

In difficult market conditions, banks do not strive to satisfy all the needs of all potential clients. They focus on the “served” markets that make up Common Market banking industry. The entire banking market thus consists of segments, in each of which the bank decides various tasks. It is important to identify segments that are characterized by the same customer reaction to the bank’s activities to create demand and stimulate sales of its products.

A market segment should ideally meet the following requirements: sufficient capacity, opportunities for further growth, absence of dominant business activities of competitors, presence of needs that this bank can successfully satisfy

It is necessary to distinguish a segment from a “niche” market. A segment, as a rule, is allocated within an industry, and a “niche,” despite its possible smaller capacity, can cover products from several sectors of banking activity. "Niche" is at the junction between segments different markets sales Within a market segment there is usually competition, but in a niche there are practically no competitors, since working for a “niche” involves providing unique new services that the bank currently has a monopoly on.

A “niche” presupposes the emergence of a new sales market, while a segment is always part of an existing market - a “Market niche” is, in essence, a segment for which the products of a given bank are most suitable.

The term “market window” is also used, which refers to market segments that have been neglected by producers of this type of service, which, however, is not a shortage, since the needs are met through other banking products. Finally, the concept of “target market” implies that it covers several segments.

Thus, market segmentation is a strategy for working with potential and existing consumers, which involves dividing the market into separate segments on certain grounds.

The most important characteristics by which segments can be distinguished to determine the market served by a bank are the class of clients, the type of services provided by the bank and groups of competing banks. At the intersection of the market segments identified by these objects of analysis, there is a non-living area of ​​the market space served by the vat bank.

Consumers can be grouped by geographic and demographic (age and gender), income level and other reasons. Banking products - no matter the nature of use or area of ​​application. Competing banks in terms of specialization, scale, and the nature of the forms of marketing they use. It is important to determine which type of segmentation is most relevant or promising.

You also need to know what criteria to use for segmentation. Segmentation criteria are a way to assess the validity of choosing a particular market segment for a bank. Most common in modern marketing The market segmentation criteria are as follows:

• 1) quantitative parameters of the segment - primarily capacity, number of potential clients, volume of services that can be consumed by them, etc.;
• 2) accessibility of the segment - a sufficient number of product sales channels;
• 3) segment stability;
• 4) profitability;
• 5) level of competition;
• 6) protection from competition in the future.

To segment the market based on the territorial basis of client grouping, the zoning scheme for the bank’s region of activity is of interest. The entire region of the bank's activities is conventionally divided into three main zones.

The primary zone is characterized by a fairly high degree of influence of the bank on potential clients living or working here. In the secondary zone (intermediate), the influence of a given bank is added to the influence of other banks. In the residual zone, the role of other banks predominates, so attracting clients from it is irregular.

The bank's important tasks are to identify opportunities to expand its spheres of influence and clientele, as well as a clear understanding of the boundaries of the primary zone. To solve these problems, consumer surveys and other techniques are used. The point of the questions asked in the questionnaires is to try to find out to what extent the bank branches maintain an atmosphere of understanding the needs of clients and caring about their problems.

Based on the nature of market relations, the following 4 groups of clients are distinguished: corporate market, retail market, credit and financial institutions, government market.

The following indicators are used as criteria for segmenting the corporate market: turnover, geography, production features, structure of subsidiaries, number of employees, level of export sales, number and location of foreign offices and branches, working capital, current liabilities, fixed assets, long-term and short-term debt , interest repaid, profitability, relationships with competitors.

• a) Turnover, volume, products sold or revenue characterize the total financial activity of the company. However, this is a simple and very rough indicator that provides little basis for drawing conclusions about the state of economic activity. Therefore, it is required to decipher it according to the types of services and products produced. It is also advisable to use the turnover indicator in combination with other segmentation variables. The total turnover value itself, while a convenient indicator of segmentation, is not applicable to all corporations.
• b) Geography is an important segmentation variable, since the convenience of the territorial location of customers and the absence of large geographical dispersion are profitable for the bank. However, there is no direct relationship, so this indicator is also used in combination with other variables.
• c) The peculiarities of the corporation's production are taken into account in order to adequately represent clients. This is a qualitative variable that presents challenges for research. However, understanding these features allows you to determine the client’s interest in a particular product and, thereby, significantly improve the quality of segmentation.
• d) An extensive network of subsidiaries of large corporations indicates the high reliability and wide geographical coverage characteristic of these clients. But the use of this indicator is complicated when many companies with developed network subsidiaries. This circumstance requires a thorough analysis of all the pros and cons of each of them.
• e) The number of employees is one of the indicators by which one can judge the size of the company. This simple and convenient indicator, which allows you to calculate many derived indicators, is used quite often. Examples of derived ratios are capital employed per employee, value added per employee, and others. Such indicators should provide insight into the various aspects of corporate activities and also break down the segment into sub-segments. Segmentation improved in this way can significantly increase the bank’s chances in the fight for a specific part of the segment. The number of employees is also the starting point for the development of personal service systems that significantly increase the volume of profitable banking operations.
• c) The level of export sales characterizes the international activities of the corporation, which is highly valued by the bank due to the profitability of operations on it. It is also possible here production indicators, allowing you to clarify the segmentation (for example, the share of export sales in total turnover).
• g) The second indicator characterizing the international activities of a corporation is the number and location of foreign offices and branches. In addition, this segmentation variable is closely related to the geographical factor.
• h) The composition and size of fixed assets includes fixed assets in circulation and inventory. Such a division makes it possible to determine the capital accumulation needs of a given enterprise and assess its tension. This indicator is used to identify groups of corporations that have similar financial capabilities.
• i) Working capital represents cash enterprises directed to the needs of economic activity. Comparison and values ​​of working capital with industry averages, assessment of tension working capital are of paramount importance for analyzing the feasibility of providing credit services to a particular corporation.
• j) Current liabilities, used as an indicator highlighting existing short-term debts and loans, make it possible to analyze the level of debt of the enterprise and the nature of management control over creditors.
• k) Long-term and short-term debt, as well as indicators derived from them (for example, the debt-to-equity ratio) significantly clarify market segmentation, highlighting companies with the best and worst ability to repay them.

The second indicator (after tax) allows, by comparing it with industry average figures, to judge the possibilities of reducing tax payments and the viability of the bank.

Analysis of relations with competitors, identification of the main ones, assessment of their strengths and weaknesses in comparison with its bank, it helps in the correct segmentation of the market and the development of those aspects of activity in which this bank will obviously have competitive advantages.

The segmentation variables considered should be used in a comprehensive manner. One or two indicators are not enough to segment the market, but the absence of one or two of them does not mean that the segmentation will be carried out incorrectly. The use of indicators that were not considered in the above list is not excluded.

Information about segmentation variables entered into the database allows you to apply computer equipment for their calculation, which significantly speeds up and improves segmentation.

Principles of retail market segmentation. To segment customers in the retail market, geographic, psychographic, behavioral and demographic principles are used as the basis.

• a) The geographical principle consists in dividing the market into consumer groups characterized by the specifics of the region. At the same time, regions may not coincide with administrative-territorial divisions and have different sizes.
• b) The psychographic principle involves the study of potential clientele from the point of view of differences in lifestyle, personality typology, and psychological characteristics of individuals. Accounting for each type of relationship individual clients to various banking services, individual response to advertising, new banking products, etc. allow you to segment the market according to relevant client groups.
• c) The behavioral principle requires consideration various aspects purchasing behavior. F. Kotler identifies the following segmentation variables in this regard:
  • - reason for making a purchase: ordinary or special occasion;
  • - sought benefits: quality, service, savings;
  • - user status: not in use, former potential, novice user, regular user;
  • - intensity of consumption: weak, moderate, active;
  • - degree of commitment: none, medium, strong, absolute;
  • - the degree of readiness of the buyer to perceive the product: unaware, aware, informed, interested, willing, intending to buy;
  • - attitude towards the product: enthusiastic, positive, indifferent, negative, hostile.
• d) The demographic principle of segmentation is more specific in terms of the variables used: age, gender, race, nationality, family characteristics (size, composition, education, age structure), occupation, education, income level, etc.

The principles discussed and the variables within them also require complex application, otherwise a distorted picture of the market and unsuccessful segmentation may result.