Bendigo Bank's Marketing Strategies In Australia - An Essay.

Select an Organisation Based in Australia for your Case Study Using Marketing Theory, Critique the Organisation.

Bendigo bank in Australia

Bendigo refers to an Australian financial entity that operates in retail banking. In 2007, the bank entered into a merger contract with Adelaide bank. Apparently, before the company merged with the other bank, it operated over 900 outlets. Currently, Bendigo has diversified to several branches and units around Queensland and Victoria; controlled from Bendigo city, the Headquarters. The company was started in 1856 to improve living conditions because of gold rush. The bank has total revenue of AU$ 1.6 billion with AU$ 426 million operating income (Sargeant 1999). This paper will highlight the Bendigos’ marketing strategy in respect to its product, price, promotion, and place strategies. In fact, the 4p’s strategies will revolve around the Bendigos’ marketing plan, which revolves around its strong foreign currecy services, attractive interest rates for investors, among others.

According to Gummesson 1991), Bendigo bank has variety of products and services such keeping money safe but also allowing customers to withdraw money. The bank also provides different types of loan such as commercial loans, personal loans and mortgage loans. Apparently, the bank also issues credit cards, process bill, and credit card transactions. It also issue checks inform of debit cards. It allows transactions at branch level to be carried out using (ATMs) (Stubbs & Cokclin 2008). The following are basic services offered by Bendigo bank.

Offer foreign exchange services: The banks allow clients to sell and purchase foreign banknotes. The clients are allowed to sends funds to other international banks. It also allow worker to remit money to their home country.

Investment services: he bank provides investment services to companies registered in security exchange.

Insurance services: The bank act as insurance brokers whereby it offers insurance services to other listed companies

Financial exports services: The bank provides financial services to other domestic firm, individual and foreign firms

Marketing Strategies

The Company offers high quality services at affordable prices. The company has low interest on loan products. It charges customers less than 15% per year on borrowed loan. The bank has sprouted and spread too many different places in Australia. The bank has deployed technology to facilitate and fasten service delivery (Brassington & Pettitt 2005). It has a real time operating system, which facilitate transactions in all of its branches. The customer who also enquires from bank branches are attended quickly since there is no queue. The company has employed large number of employees who attends to customer enquiries. The quality of the service is maintained to ensure the customers remains loyal to the company or bank. In the product marketing, the bank tries all means to ensure the customer receives the best service without wastage of time.

Marketing Strategies

The bank has ICT department, which is mandated with maintaining and upgrading network infrastructure. The transactions performed by clients requires high-speed internet for them to be effective. The bank has deployed sophisticated network infrastructure with high speed and strong data security mechanism (Barraket et al 2010). The department works to ensure there is smooth running of service delivery by the system. It also uses other platforms such as cloud computing to ensure that data is readily available by the users in time of request. The bank deploys technology to ensure it keep pace with other financial organization in Australia. For example, the bank brings services close to the people by opening up bank branches and agents. The customer in rural area does not need to incur extra charge through transport seeking bank services.

The bank has also collaborated with other bank and firms to ensure that they have competitive products and service in the Australian market. For example, it works with insurance companies to safe guard money kept by customer in bank. The customers have the brand loyalty, which in case of any loss by the bank; his/her account balance is not affected (Strydon 2005). The company also offers high quality insurance services. It has various policies by which other firms; individual and financial organization can insure them. In case the damage occurs on the insured product, the customers have hope in compensational terms.

The services about insurance are simplified bank user whereby one can apply for insurance premium via banks web portal. The primary focus of the bank management body is the quality of the service and products offered by the Bendigo bank (Bagozzi 1994). The company has deep insight of customer requirements and desires, and in the effort to maintain them, the company have to develop a habit of delivering quality products and services trusted by the customers.

The bank offers their products and services at a lower price to attract and maintain their customers. The bank charges low interest rate on long-term and short-term loan. For example, the company charges less than 8% on short-term loan, while on long-term it charges less than 16% per year. The firm also operates on insurance premium that is not much costly to the customers, but when compensating beat other insurance companies (Luke & Duke 1987). The transactions cost of withdraw and money transfer is decimal compared to other banks. The bank allows customers to send and withdraw money at little charge. The bank has also a fixed deposit account, which earn some interest at the end of the year. The company is regarded good customers who are investors due to it high interest rate. The money kept on fixed deposit account earns more interests compared to other operating firms.

Products and Services

The promotion of the bank products and services is done through the following methods.

Personal sales: The bank has employed quite large number of sales person who move from one region to another in the bid of creating public awareness on products and services of Bendigo bank. For example, the sales agents are mandated with selling bank insurance policies to other firms and individuals. The agents also assist in registrations of new customers in the market. They move from one region to other opening accounts to new customers (Bagozzi 1994). The target is especially the young people who are still schooling. The bank focuses on young people since they end up becoming their long-term customer by opening account with them.

Advertisement: The bank has carried out public campaign in order to retain its customers and get some new customers. Radio and TV advertisements have been very rampant in Australia. The bank has also heavily advertised on internet, it has used social Medias such as tweeter, Facebook, and WhatsApp to promote its products and services (Luke & Doke 1987). The bank has also tried to create a presentable image in the eyes of public to gain more likes and hence more customers. Publicity has also been rampant, the media houses has covered several branches being opened in Australia.

In this method of marketing, the proximity and accessibility of banks products and services is important. The company distributes its products depending on customer or consumer demands. When the demand is high, the bank tends to produce and offer many services. The bank has May outlets, which provide products and services (Svensson & Wood 2012). It has even rural branches, which cater for people living in reserve areas. Other financial institutions such as Bendigo and Adelaide distribute the rest of the percentage. The big fours have steadily increased mortgage loan in the last decade. In the year 2002, big four controlled 57.8-mortgage loan, but at the end of 2016, the mortgage loan rose to 74.3% (IMF 2016). The market is very competitive and concentrated by many financial organizations.

The public awareness creation via advertisement both social and print medias such as TVs and Radios, Facebook and Twitter; has led to the banks’ regional and global growth. It has led to the increase of customers in the bank, which in return has resulted to increase of sales (Sargeant 1999). As many customers join the bank, the demand of goods and services also increases simultaneously which lead to high returns and profit.

Price Strategy

Marketing has enable Bendego to compete favorably with other financial organizations.  It has also led to improvement of products and services among competing firms. Since the market has many domestic and foreign players, competition has increased which has resulted firms to improve their products and services to remain influential on local market. As a result, it has led to innovation of various best methods to offer best services and products. It has led to creation of employment (Capuano & Ramsay 2011). Many companies has sprout out because of advertisements, these companies has hired quite good number of people to work as an advertiser, which in return has created employment. Advertisement has led incurring extra costs by financial firms. Advertisement process is expensive, for a company to be advertised on TV or Radio; it needs more resources to carry out advertisements. Since small firms have fewer resources to carry out advertisements, it lags behind their products promotion.

In conclusion, advertisement is a very important technique for firms to employ it to become successful. Advertisement aims at convincing the customers why they should maintain and use firm’s products. Ultimately, Bendigo utilizes various methodologies to lay their marketing plan such as outsourcing strategy, attractive interest rates, and advertisement coupons, among others. Bendego has deployed marketing strategy, which has boosted its growth (Barraket & Pettitt 2005). The company has maintained to keep and register new customers in their system. It has heavily invested on technology to ensure service and product delivery is of high quality according to consumer’s desire. The bank management has given much attention on marketing, to ensure their products and services compete favorably from other financial firms. The bank has allocated more funds to promote its products via different platforms such as internet and media houses (Duncan & Elliot 2004). The market composes of stiff competition and for a firm to win market share, it must know the best method to market and deliver their products to customers. Marketing is a continuous process, and Bendigo bank has repeatedly undertaken measures to ensure they gain and maintain their customers.

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