Research of Consumer Preferences of Banking Products and Services in the Regional Market of Belgorod Region to Achieve Banks’ Marketing Goals

Abstract

The article examines the preferences of consumers of banking products and services in the regional market of Belgorod region to achieve banks’ marketing goals. The analysis showed that, given the strong competition which is due to the presence of 61 banks on the market, a deep understanding of potential consumers’ needs and increasing their loyalty will help the bank adjust all components of the marketing mix. The regional market of banking products and services in Belgorod region is analyzed, the author's approach to determining consumer preferences is outlined from the perspective of research within the regional market of banking products and services of three strategic groups: regarding the level of satisfaction with the service of leading banks, whose services are mostly used by the region’s population; satisfaction of bank clients with banking products and services; satisfaction with a specific banking technology product. It is noted that in the competitive environment of the banking segment of Belgorod region, consumer advantage is given to a certain circle of banks: Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank, Rosselkhozbank, Otkritie Bank, Sovcombank, Bank DOM.RF, Rosbank, Tinkoff Bank), which lies in the predominance of competitive components regarding satisfaction with the Bank’s service (meeting customer expectations and the actual qualities of the purchased product). It was also established that the degree of popularity of the brand in the target market plays an important role. A survey was conducted regarding the popularity of banking services, such as: “deposit”, “credit”, “sms-banking”, “insurance”, “investment”. Leading services, outsider services and services requiring additional measures to increase demand were identified, namely, insurance and investment services. Based on the results of the study, the reasons or problems affecting the consumers’ choice of banking services and possible ways to solve them were substantiated.