Canadian big banks go back to marketing basics- staying close to customers.
Starting from late 1990s when the Internet was hot, Canadian banks have been actively pushing customers out of branches to low-cost platform like on-line, telephone banking and automatic teller machines.
The tide is turning.
According to an article published in today’s (October 24, 2009) Toronto Star, Toronto-Dominion Bank is transforming its branches into a place like a community centre in an attempt to lure customers and non-customers to its branches.
In its new prototype branch in Brampton, the open-concept layout includes a lounge area where clients can sit and have a coffee or relax with magazine and newspaper supplied by the bank, and a special kids zone that features an array of books, toys and pin-sized computer. It also includes a community room and a free coin counter that also available to non-clients.
The bank is hoping this approach will help them build the client relationship to boost sales and profits. It will help them spend time really understanding their clients’ need. Finally, it took ten years for the bank to realize that the Internet has yet to render old-fashioned branch services obsolete. Old-fashioned relationship-building still remains the centre of marketing strategies.
The bank’s dramatic shift is really nothing new. It’s just going back to the basics – staying close to customers. This is fundamental to banks and to other businesses too.
