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The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible usefulness of a combined multi‐attribute and Kano model in analysing how service quality is perceived by mass affluent bank customers. More precisely, to identify quality dimensions, attributes, and items in terms of taken‐for‐granteds, proportionals, delighters, and neutrals.

Using a survey, the authors measured how mass affluent customers in one region in a major Swedish bank perceived service quality. Responses were analysed with reference to both multi‐attribute service quality and Kano models.

The combined model seems to provide some guidance regarding how service quality is perceived by bank customers in the mass affluent segment. The significant number of neutral items reveals potentially wasted resources. The finding of only one delighter item reveals that mass affluent customers are difficult to please. However, substantial heterogeneity exists in customer perceptions of the service quality items investigated.

This exploratory study examines only one bank in one region in one country, implying a need for additional research applying this combined model and other methods to investigate private banking in the mass affluent segment.

The significant number of neutrals implies that banks might be more efficient if they avoided spending resources on such items. The conspicuous spread in conceptions of service quality items suggests that bank managers and personal bankers may benefit from co‐creating services with mass affluent customers.

Banks are intermediates on financial markets. Improved and customized service quality could make mass affluent customers inclined to invest their resources in ways that promote economic growth.

In addition to traditional measurement models, the Kano model may contribute to service quality assessment in private banking.

The purpose of this paper is to explore mass affluent customer perceptions of the service quality delivered by personal advisors and banks, and the contributions of personal advisors and banks to customer satisfaction; and also to analyse the strength of the relationship between customer satisfaction with personal advisors and banks.

A survey composed of items designed to mirror service quality practices used in the mass affluent segment was administered to customers of a major Swedish bank. Statistical analyses of the responses were performed.

Four service quality dimensions are identified as salient to customer satisfaction: interpersonal behaviour, knowledge, service portfolio, and trust. The relative importance of these dimensions depends on whether customer satisfaction with the personal advisor or the bank is focused. Moreover, the analysis indicates a double “rubbing off” effect where customer satisfaction with the personal advisor influences customer satisfaction with the bank and vice versa.

The unexplored separation of service quality provided by the bank and the personal advisor is central to perceived service quality. The study focuses on customer satisfaction in the mass affluent segment, which is an unexplored context different from retail banking.

This study examines the effects of market orientation on the performance of retail outlets in Zimbabwe, a low-income country (LIC). LIC retailers operate at the nexus of subsistence marketplaces and the market economy. Socioeconomic, cultural and regulative institutions are more dynamic and differ substantially from the industrialized West. This provides an interesting context in which to test the generalizability of market orientation theory. A covariance structure model of the hypothesized relations indicates that market orientation improves performance. Reward systems have a positive effect on market orientation and a positive indirect effect on performance through market orientation. However, consistent with the characteristics of Zimbabwe, which are not unexpected in the LIC institutional context, interdepartmental conflict, centralization, and formalization do not have significant effects on market orientation. The results suggest that the market orientation–performance link generalizes but that some antecedents of market orientation identified in previous research may not apply in LICs.

This study examines the impact of servitization in the form of repair and maintenance services on consumers' quality perceptions, purchase intentions and recommendation intentions while considering consumer frugality as a moderator in the retail ready-to-wear sector.

A quantitative approach based on consumer research was pursued. Study 1 tested the research model using a fictitious ready-to-wear brand within an experimental design. To increase the generalizability of results, Study 2 retested the model with a well-known ready-to-wear brand. For both studies, regression, mediation and moderation analyses were conducted in SPSS.

Both studies showed that servitization positively influences perceived quality. Servitization positively affects purchase intentions and recommendation intentions indirectly via the mediating role of perceived quality. Frugality moderates the relationship between servitization and perceived quality for the fictitious brand (Study 1), whereas it is not significant for a well-known ready-to-wear brand (Study 2). Servitization positively influences perceived quality regardless of consumers' frugality levels for a stronger brand.

This study suggests and tests an original conceptual model that relies on signaling theory. It is among the first studies to examine the impact of servitization on retail fashion consumers' quality perceptions and consequent purchase and recommendation intentions. This study also contributes to the literature by presenting empirical findings based on consumer research on servitization while considering frugality as a moderator.

Bundling products with additional services can contribute to quality perceptions and consequently to purchase and recommendation intentions for ready-to-wear brands.

The worldwide market for financial services is evolving rapidly, and is likely to look very different by the year 2010. This study identifies major market drivers and operational challenges that financial institutions will likely face over the next four years and pin‐points the strategies and practices recommended to create the “Hallmarks of Success”.

This report is based on industry and literature reviews and builds on research carried out by Deloitte Research on the financial services industry.

New asset classes such as private equity and hedge funds are attracting a growing number of investors. The payments business, a major source of revenue for financial institutions, is being restructured. In many countries, the impending retirement of baby boomers is changing the focus of financial services from long‐term accumulation to managed consumption. Emerging markets are becoming increasingly important sources of growth for firms in mature economies. Financial institutions around the world will need to forge the hallmarks of operational excellence in areas such as offshoring, taxation and financial reporting, service and process innovation, and in internal control to hold on to their growth and profitability.

The financial services industry is changing rapidly with the rules of the game being rewritten faster than ever before. Globalization, increased regulation, commoditization of products, and decreased margins are just some challenges that require an overhaul of current business thinking. Companies that aspire to reach, or hold on to, leadership positions need to understand these changes and adapt to them.

This report documents the real‐time changes happening in the financial services industry and draws lessons from them for the medium term. These lessons are valuable for companies looking for strategies to stay on top in the midst of the changes currently sweeping the industry.

This paper aims to explore the transformative influence of social media applications on the digital evolution of banks. Using a multiple case study approach, this study investigates how Italian banks have adopted social media in their digital transformation. The study seeks to uncover strategies used by banks to maximise the benefits of social media platforms and assess the outcomes and challenges faced during this process. The results provide valuable insights for banks navigating digital transformation, emphasising the importance of organisational culture, client engagement, financial innovation and proactive response to fintech disruptions.

This study uses a multiple case study approach to investigate the influence of social media applications on the digital transformation of banks. Six Italian banks that integrated social media into their digital transformation efforts are analysed. The research examines the strategies used by these banks to effectively leverage social media platforms. The outcomes and implications of these initiatives are scrutinised to discern both positive impacts and challenges faced by banks and customers. The research methodology involves in-depth analysis of case studies, incorporating insights from managerial interviews to underscore key aspects essential for successful digital adaptation in the banking sector.

This study reveals profound impacts of digital transformation on the banking sector, emphasising key implementation areas. Insights gleaned from case studies of six Italian banks underscore the transformative influence of social media applications. Results highlight positive impacts, including enhanced customer service, engagement, financial literacy and community building. Managerial interviews underscore five critical aspects: the imperative for a new organisational culture, a focus on millennial clients, understanding and offering new financial instruments and proactive responses to challenges posed by emerging fintech companies. Successful adaptation necessitates attention to organisational culture, client engagement, financial innovation and proactive response to fintech disruptions. The findings contribute to the evolving understanding of the transformative role of social media in reshaping the banking industry.

This paper fills a critical research gap by delving into the challenges specific to banking institutions during the implementation of social media strategies amid digital transformation. While existing literature predominantly highlights positive impacts, this study pioneers a comprehensive exploration of unique hurdles faced by banks. The multiple case study approach, focusing on six Italian banks, contributes original insights into the strategies used to maximise social media benefits. The research provides a nuanced understanding of both positive impacts and challenges encountered, offering valuable guidance for refining social media approaches in the ever-evolving digital landscape. This contributes to the existing body of knowledge and aids banks in navigating their digital transformation journey effectively.

By studying the marketing of advertising space, this paper aims to study how class, gender and region were portrayed in terms of economic considerations in adverts selling advertising space to potential advertisers. The paper studies how readers were discursively transformed into consumers in this material and how different consumer groups were depicted, divided and framed during Sweden’s early consumer culture. By doing so, the paper highlights the tensions between aiming at a mass audience, on the one hand, and striving to reach more and more specific consumer groups on the other hand.

Both qualitative and quantitative analyses are made in order to follow the changes of highlighted consumer groups in the ads. Intersectional analysis is used to see how notions of class and gender intersected during the analysed period.

The sectioning of the press is in the paper stressed as a prerequisite for market segmentation and the economic history of mass media is lifted as essential for understanding it. The gendering and classing of market segments were also based on how common interests were interpreted by political movements and their press forums. For surviving in the long run, however, the paper argues that the political press needed to commercialise their readerships to attract advertisers and survive economically.

The paper concludes that mass marketing and segmentation processes were in many senses parallel in the studied material. Statements of reaching all social classes diminished over time, but notions of the masses were prevalent in both the worker and the women categories. However, how advertisers choose between different media for their advertising campaigns or how they adopted different marketing methods towards different segments are beyond the scope of this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to use current loyalty market landscape data to examine differences in loyalty‐program participation among key consumer segments.

Using data from the Loyalty Census research study conducted by COLLOQUY (JCM v24i5), this paper applies the information to six demographic segments of high interest to loyalty‐marketing practitioners – affluent, young adult, senior, core women, emerging Hispanic, and general adult – to determine rends related to participation, needs, redemption, and satisfaction.

The paper identifies the emergence of underserved and important demographic segments looking for attention in the world of loyalty marketing. The paper also establishes the new battlegrounds for loyalty programs in regards to rewards and redemption. Finally, the research reveals fresh strategies for marketers designing loyalty offerings.

Personalization is key to driving participation in contemporary loyalty marketing programs. Companies must identify the individual and tailor rewards, offers and benefits ‐ constructing a “difference engine” to serve all markets, build advocacy, retention and return on investment.

The paper further deconstructs the current loyalty marketing landscape and spotlights budding demographic segments previously overlooked or understudied. The text derives ten concrete suggestions from the data for building successful loyalty programs in today's changing market.

The purpose of this paper is to study the optimal contact policies for customers that belong to the mass affluent market.

The authors formulate a stochastic dynamic programming model to determine the optimal frequency of contacts in order to maximize the expected return of the company.

The authors show that personalized marketing strategies provide a competitive advantage to companies that contact their customers directly through, for example, phone calls or meetings. The authors show that a threshold policy is only optimal for customers with increasing sensitivity to contact. In all other cases, optimal policies might have a less intuitive structure. The authors also study the importance of the size of the customer database and determine the optimal maximum recency when maintenance costs are present.

Contact policies should be tailored for each company/industry individually, due to their sensitivity to customers’ purchasing behavior.

En este artículo se estudian políticas óptimas de contacto de clientes que pertenecen al segmento de mercado con alto poder adquisitivo.

Para ello formulamos un modelo de programación dinámica estocástica para determinar la frecuencia óptima de contactos durante un período de tiempo, de modo de maximizar el beneficio esperado de la empresa.

Los resultados muestran que una estrategia de marketing personalizada entrega una herramienta competitiva a aquellas empresas que contactan directamente a sus clientes, a través, por ejemplo, de llamadas telefónicas o reuniones periódicas. También se muestra que las políticas con un umbral a partir del cual es óptimo contactar a todos los clientes son óptimas solo en el caso de clientes con una creciente sensibilidad al contacto. En todos los otros casos, las políticas óptimas tienen una estructura menos intuitiva. Finalmente, se estudia el tamaño óptimo de la base de datos de clientes y hasta que antigüedad es recomendable mantenerlos en el sistema.

Las políticas de contacto a clientes deberían ser confeccionadas a la medida de las características individuales de la empresa, puesto que ellas son altamente sensibles al comportamiento de compra de los clientes.