CHAPTER ONE
1.1 …
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Marketing is about identifying and meeting human needs profitably
(Kotler and Keller, 2004). Making the right decision about change is not always easy, good marketing is no accident, but a result of careful planning and execution (Kotter and Keller, 2004). The influx of new banks in the later eighties and nineties, commonly referred to as the new generation banks, tilted the business of banking to focus more on customer expansion. To effectively achieve this, most of these new generational banks created opportunities more for the female marketer as the core customer ratio was male dominated (Olabayo, 2007).
The marketing department was officially carved out in the late nineties as against the old banking system that dwelt on paper documentation and manual recording. The days when customer’s transactions were manually manipulated to reflect deposits and withdrawals, and balances, all, stored in a file attached to the name and address of the customer (Obut, 2001). Compared to the early years of banking where willing customers walk into banks to open savings and salary accounts, marketers and marketing were designed to seek out the customers. This change in pattern soon differentiated banks into old and new generation, where the new generation banks were carefully involved in identifying and meeting prospective customers need (Okeke, 2006). The profit margin in these new generation banks led to the opening of more banks and branches, creating healthy competition that revolutionized the industry in the nineties (Amodu, 2003). Can this revolution and spread in banking activities be responsible, for the later need of electronic means of executing banks’ operations? At what stage was it applied to marketing and what was the leveraging effect on the performance of banks then? How did the old generation banks respond?
Electronic marketing involves using information and communications technology to reach diverse customers, even in their comfort and distant zones (Echejile, 2008). Experiences from developed countries have shown greater customer care and comfort and confidence in the use of information and communication technology in banks’ operations. With more efficient technology, marketers have simply grown their lists of satisfied customers at limited costs, since it easily affords them the opportunity to reach global customers.
Marketing prospective customers made easier through the application of information and communication technology means reaching far and distant customers in no time, opening of business relationships without requiring physical presence and making services available to customers via the internet Nduka, 2006). Banks in developed countries have broken territorial barriers reaching and harnessing business opportunities in third and developing countries, at the expense of the local banks operating in those economies. The question is, have the Nigerian old and new generation banks taken full advantage of these begging opportunities and projected to the rest of the World? What are those factors militating against local Nigerian banks and depriving them from taking absolute advantage of e-marketing? What inherent opportunities are hiding behind these challenges and how can they be unwrapped to the benefit of the Nigerian society? Can we assess the performance of old and new generation banks on the basis of the Leveraging effects of electronic marketing in the South Eastern Nigeria?
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objective of this study is to assess the leveraging effect of electronic marketing on the performance of commercial banks in South East Nigeria. The specific objectives are to:
1. Determine the extent to which old and new generation banks leverage an electronic marketing in their various business operations.
2. Compare the influence of electronic marketing between the old generation and new generation banks in Nigeria, using the South East region as a reference point.
3. Identify the challenges which both new generation and the old generation banks face with cognizance to the use of electronic means in banks’ marketing designs.
4. Decipher how a bank in a competitive business environment applies electronic marketing tools and strategies in the performance of their selling duties.
5. Make adequate suggestions cum recommendations towards the improvement of information and communication technology usage both in the old and new generation banks’ marketing activities.