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The future of Banks and their branches with the changing Consumer Behaviour

• Posted on February 20, 2020
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Prologue

While Consumer satisfaction is something that we talk about regularly, it has a grave impact on the bank branches. Many multinational banking corporations ranked in the Fortune 500, rely based on expanding their operations by opening new branches. But this trend has been observed to decline slightly since 2013. This is mainly because people all over the world have somehow changed their methods of banking. Now, the question has shifted from ‘ How do banks manage their customers?’ to ‘ How are people banking recently?’

Hence, there is a very important need to talk about Consumer behavior in banking and the dire consequences it has or may have on banks and their branches. Let us discuss further on how consumer behavior is an important and deciding factor in the future of banks and one’s financial institution’s growth in the future.

Getting started

It is common knowledge that technology has penetrated the depths of the financial sector, the most prominent example being FinTechs – Financial Institutions which rely heavily on computer programs and other technology to support or enable banking and financial services. Even so, there are many other aspects which lead us to talk about how technology has completely dominated mostly every aspect of banking and finance - with the introduction of Digital Wallets, Mobile banking, and other convenient ways for customers to engage more in their financial activities, in hope that it would lead to a larger customer satisfaction.

But, when it comes to convenience, consumers usually rely on services that are available to them on an ‘On-the-go’ basis and usually like engaging with their branches as less as possible. This and other such changes are all a part of a transformation taking place in the banking Industry. However alarming this maybe, but this changing consumer trend has become more of a reality of the banking and financial sector in the very recent years.

Here is some factual information on how people have done banking in recent years.

• As of today, nearly 50% of consumers use only digital means to stay in touch with their banks. This number has increased extensively from a mere 27% in 2016.
• As of 2019, 63.5% of global smartphone users rely on mobile banking in some or the other way, which has increased by 36% in the last five years.
• In 2017, the total number of bank branches in the US declined from 91,900 to 89,900. Insinuating a 2.2% Decrease.
• Also, there has been a major shift in the time a customer reports to their local bank branch, which has dropped considerably from multiple times per month to multiple times per year.

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Are banks adjusting to changing consumer behavior?

Banking as we know it is a very dynamic concept which relies heavily on change and evolution. Ever since mankind discovered money and started to engage in saving and investing it, banking has seen constant evolution and still is.  

In contemporary times, Technology is the leading factor in the evolution of banking.  To match the changing pace and fancies of the ‘On-The-Go’ consumer, banks are facing challenges in adjusting their business models and existing practices to retain their old customers and are finding ways to incorporate new consumers.

But it is not like banks have failed to accept this challenge, but rather many big financial institutions have brought a change in their existing business processes to match their consumer’s ever-changing needs. Some of the major changes adopted by Banks and their branches are:

• Increased Mobile app Activity: As it goes without saying, and being mentioned above, mobile banking usage has increased drastically in the last five years and is here to stay for a very long time indeed. Hence, comprehensive mobile applications are being developed by banks to give consumers more options to do more things from their smartphones and other devices.
• Branch Makeovers: Since the traditional bank branches are ever so shrinking in size, as the data signifying the decrease in banks in the U.S. mentioned above suggests – banks are relocating to more strategic locations where there is a large consumer footfall, and at the same time are depending more on other channels such as online applications, mobile apps, ATMs and other technologies to handle their transactional activities.
• Expanding skill sets: The bank tellers are having a hard time keeping up with the changing consumer behavior. But to tackle this, they are widening their skill sets so that they can render multiple services to the consumer at the same time.  Hence, bank representatives are becoming multi-taskers who use customer-facing technology to also sell products and services. 

Conclusion

It is very important for banks, thus to adapt to the constantly and relatively changing consumer trends to firstly and most importantly, keep their customers happy and at the same time remaining competitive to survive the cutting edge of the banking industry. There is a persistent race of providing the best banking experience to their consumers and has been taken up through new approaches to customer engagement, empowering the banking staff and finding innovative ways to improve the consumer experience. Only then, banks and consumers will be able to remain on the opposite side of the balanced spectrum and thus secure their future as well as the future of their other branches, because frankly, it’s the survival of the fittest!

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