Research Article
Digital Marketing Strategies of the Korean Banking Industry: The Case of the KB Smart Phone Savings Account
Dankook University
Published: January 2015 · Vol. 19, No. 1 · pp. 205-226
Full Text
Abstract
The digital environment is bringing changes to the competition in the banking industry. The marketing method of the past which was mostly focused on offline product sales is no more competitive nowadays. Offline transactions have greatly declined whereas internet and mobile transactions are continuously increasing. Now, digital banks without any offline branches or SNS service companies have become new competitors to conventional banks. Therefore, recently banks are launching new smart phone financial products competitively. This case study has focused on the “KB smart phone savings account” to examine over the changes of recent financial products of the banks. The result of the study shows that “KB smart phone savings account” has penetrated into the market earlier, and is evaluated as a successful mobile banking product which has adapted to the digital environment well. Theoretically, the success point of the “KB smart phone savings account” can be explained by following three factors. First, the product has reflected network effect which is one of the main variables in digital economy. Second, it has introduced gamification factors to encourage engagement of the financial customers. Third, the framing effect such as the PAD pricing strategy has promoted customers’ savings activity. We expect that the digitalization of the financial industry will bring structural changes in the banking industry. The purpose of this study is to discuss the future digital financial marketing strategy through examining over one of the successful financial products.
