Uncovering strategies to foster customer intimacy perceptions in the banking sector thanks to servicescape

Abstract

Considering the intense competition in the banking sector, players are striving to gain the largest market share. The basic services themselves are similar and it is difficult to assess the quality of the service due to its lack of tangibility. On top of that the bank focuses the efforts on increasing customer retention as it is a cheaper strategy than attracting new customers. As a result, banks strive to distinguish themselves by two fundamental aspects: tangibalizing the services by investing in the servicescape and getting closer to clients to understand their needs and wants in order to build a long-term intimate relationship. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to discover what are the strategies that foster customer intimacy perceptions in the banking sector thanks to the servicescape. To achieve this goal, we followed a mystery shopping research approach with a convenience sample of three banks (Belfius, BNP, AXA) in Liege. In the three banks, many strategies contributed to enhancing customer intimacy. In general, the main strategies are the visual strategies, spatial layout strategies and signs/symbols/artefacts strategies. The results of the study showed that the three banks have an average ability to improve customer intimacy using servicescape. The weaknesses encountered in the banks are mainly due to their lack of customer centricity and an orientation towards the mass market.