Citibank Pakistan: Operations Report
BUSINESS PLAN
Citibank Pakistan is one of the top foreign banks operating in Pakistan. It has been operating in the consumer sector since 1991. The bank is most well known for the innovative products it offers in the market. Some of the products that Citibank Pakistan offers are Credit Cards, Auto Loans, House Mortgages, Personal Loans, and Deposit products. Right now, Citibank is the market leader in the financial products of Credit Cards and Auto Loans. Personal Loans and House Mortgages were offered in the market a short while ago and are gaining popularity in the target market.
The purpose of this project is to develop the feasibility of using direct marketing channels as the medium to acquire good customers for Citibank Pakistan. By unique direct marketing we mean all those means which are any other method of contacting the customer except for Advertising and Sales Force.
During the course of the project we shall try to analyze if this rifle approach (i.e. direct marketing) is better than the shot gun approach i.e. (advertising and sales force). We would like to use some innovative offers and techniques so that Citibank manages to capture the customer it has not been able to get hold of, till right now.
- NEED ANALYSIS
The market for the products that Citibank offers is far from saturated. There is a lot of room for growth and Citibank is trying hard to maintain its market leadership and increase its market share as there is an overall growth in the financial industry and people change their attitude towards credit in Pakistani society.
The purpose of using these Direct marketing channels will be to try and get hold of those customers who have very little time and are too busy to allow any advertisement or salespeople to give a chance to convince them to buy a product.
These are the people who want Citibank to treat them as “SPECIAL” customers by offering them something more than what Citibank is offering to everybody else in the market. This something could be an offer or a way to contact a customer that would allow him to realize the need of that particular product that would facilitate him in the fulfillment of his personal responsibilities as well as support him in his business needs.
Our objective for this project would be to offer the potential some extra perks to the customers if they wish to act promptly and thus give value to the customer and at the same time get good customers for the bank, at a better cost.
- TARGET MARKET DEFINITION
Since Citibank has got so many different products in the market, the target market for every product is somewhat different. The overall profile of a Citibank customer is that he belongs to upper and upper middle class income level. He is a resident of Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi-Islamabad or for some products Faisalabad. He is a person who feels elated by relating himself with a big brand name like Citibank and is willing to get higher quality services at a comparatively higher cost than what the Citibank competitors charge him.
- COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Since Citibank offers a wide range of products, so it has to combat with different competitors for different products. The main competitors of Citibank are the foreign banks who are continuously trying to gauge the consumer needs and come up with newer products to fulfill the consumer needs. Main foreign bank competitors for Citibank are ANZ Grindlays, Standard Chartered Bank, and ABN Amro Bank. Some other comparatively small foreign banks, are also offering some products that Citibank offers, they include Emirates bank, Al-Falah Bank, HSBC, etc.
No local bank is currently a threat to the progress of Citibank, but if Habib Bank is privatized and they can raise their performance standards, it is one local bank that can pose threat to Citibank. Other local banks have a lot of catching up to do, especially in terms of the services they provide, and the sort of positioning they have in the minds of a consumer.
- CURRENT MARKETING TECHNIQUES
Citibank has been using various channels to attract customers. The list includes Advertising, Internal and External Sales force and direct marketing channels.
Citibank uses both print and electronic media to promote its products. It mainly emphasizes on Print media and uses The Dawn, The News and The Daily Jang for advertising.
Citibank used to invest heavily in electronic media advertising but with the passage of time has curtailed its budget and has stopped advertising on television. Now, it only uses close circuit television networks at certain locations e.g. Airports etc to promote its products.
Credit Cards
A Credit card is a total consumer product that is offered in the financial industry. A customer can use the money up to his credit limit in any manner that he wants. Since the credit offered through credit cards is usually smaller as compared to other credit products therefore the credit is uncollateralized. It is very easy for a customer to obtain a credit card and it has multiple usage. Keeping all these factors in view, it is no wonder that credit cards have always been the most popular credit product with the consumers and its demand has been immense all over the world.
Citibank launched its VISA credit card in Pakistan, in 1993. At the moment, Citibank has approximately 100,000 customers. It is the market leader in the growing credit cards market. The interest rate that is charged on a Citibank card is 3 percent per month that is a bit higher than what the competition is charging to its customers. There is a subscription fee of Rs.2, 000 and yearly fixed charge of Rs.2, 000.
Target Market:
The target market of Citibank Credit cards comprises of professionals and self-employed people whose estimated monthly income is more than Rs.10, 000. These are the people who are living in the cities of Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi-Islamabad. These are the people who may have limited means but have the potential to grow in their professions and wish to spend more than what they have been earning at the moment, or who wish to acquire Credit cards as a means of facilitating their transactions.
Situation Analysis
Credit cards were introduced in the Pakistani market by Muslim Commercial Bank but with the passage of time, Citibank and ANZ Grindlays established themselves as the big players in the market. Citibank has 100,000 cardholders, while ANZ Grindlays has around 50,000 cardholders at the moment.
There are some other banks that will be coming up with their cards very shortly. This is going to make credit cards a very competitive market and the players will need to either come up with a very innovative product or to find some new ways to acquire new customers.
Current Marketing Strategies
Citibank has been marketing its products very aggressively in the market. Citibank has been using Advertising as a promotion medium extensively, and has been using print media mainly as an advertising medium. The Citibank advertising campaigns are strongly supported by sales force that facilitate a customer in his decision making to get a card from Citibank.
Citibank is using direct marketing techniques in a limited way to get hold of some other customers. The direct marketing technique currently being used by Citibank is direct mailers. Citibank uses these mailers to let its current customers know of the changes in the product and to cross sell some other product to its existing customers.
Citibank also uses this direct mailing technique to acquire a few customers, but this approach has not been very successful for the bank as yet.
Mailer
The mailer and the envelope will be attractive so as to get the attention of the customer. <Description of mailer and envelope.
Assumptions
- Response Rate is 4%
- Acquisition Rate is 3%
- A list of 10,000 leads has been acquired by the bank
Lists of leads will be purchased from different sources by the bank. These sources include clubs, professional associations etc.
The mailers will be sent via courier. The reason for this is that regular mail is not dependable because of which many leads may be wasted. Sending mail through courier also makes it look more important to the customer.
