This issue contains five research papers, out of which three are on luxury brands.
The first paper, “Consumer Attitude Towards Luxury Brands: An Empirical
Study”, by Preeti Tak and Ashish Pareek, is based on a survey conducted among
Indian consumers. The principal finding of the study is that the three dimensions of
consumers’ need for uniqueness (i.e., creative choice counter-conformity, unpopular
choice counter-conformity, and avoidance of similarity) and fashion consciousness
positively influence consumers’ attitude towards luxury brands. The marketing implication
is that limited availability, exclusivity and marketing communications suggesting
uniqueness would be effective in marketing of luxury goods.
Closet consumers are those who are not born rich but experiment with expensive
luxury products, as yet with a middle-class and conservative mindset. The second paper,
“The Impact of Consumer Personality Traits on Luxury Brand Market: An Empirical Study
on Closet Consumers”, by Shweta Kastiya, first, identifies five luxury personality
dimensions of closet consumers—modernity, eccentricity, sincerity, competence and
excitement—through factor analysis, by starting with a list of 16 variables. Then, the
study identifies correlations between specific personality dimensions and luxury product
categories, for example, cosmetics with modernity and excitement, food and wine with
eccentricity, and cars with excitement. These findings provide broad guidelines to
marketers as to which category of luxury products are more likely to be purchased by closet
consumers with what type of personality dimensions.
The next paper on luxury brands, “Leveraging Luxury Brands: Prevailing Trends and
Research Challenges”, by Henrik Uggla, is a conceptual research paper and draws its
observations based on examples from different parts of the world. It addresses four issues
in the context of luxury brands—country cannibalization, make versus buy decisions,
partner branding and extending vintage brands.
The last two papers are on employer branding and how consumer perceived fit
influences brand extension acceptability. The fourth paper, “Employer Branding: The
Solution to Create Talented Workforce”, by Deepti Verma and Anees Ahmad, is a research
conducted in Ghana on employer branding. The study identifies six dimensions of
attractiveness in employer branding—social value, interest value, economic value, holistic
value, cooperation value and working environment. Social value and economic value are
found to be the most important dimensions in attracting and retaining teaching staff in
colleges.
The last paper, “The Role of Consumer Perceived Fit in Brand Extension
Acceptability”, by S J Evangeline and V R Ragel, is a research conducted in Sri Lanka on
brand extension. The study demonstrates how product category fit and brand level fit
influence the perceived brand extension fit with reference to extension of the ‘Kist’ brand
in Sri Lanka.
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): The Changing Face of Banking in India
Bank Management
Information and communication technology has changed the way in which banks provide services to its customers. These days the customers are able to perform their routine banking transactions without even entering the bank premises. ATM is one such development in recent years, which provides remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the development of this self-service banking in India based on the secondary data.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in the progress and advancement in almost all walks of life. The deregulated environment has provided an opportunity to restructure the means and methods of delivery of services in many areas, including the banking sector. The ICT has been a focused issue in the past two decades in Indian banking. In fact, ICTs are enabling the banks to change the way in which they are functioning. Improved customer service has become very important for the very survival and growth of banking sector in the reforms era. The technological advancements, deregulations, and intense competition due to the entry of private sector and foreign banks have altered the face of banking from one of mere intermediation to one of provider of quick, efficient and customer-friendly services. With the introduction and adoption of ICT in the banking sector, the customers are fast moving away from the traditional branch banking system to the convenient and comfort of virtual banking. The most important virtual banking services are phone banking, mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM banking. These electronic channels have enhanced the delivery of banking services accurately and efficiently to the customers. The ATMs are an important part of a bank’s alternative channel to reach the customers, to showcase products and services and to create brand awareness. This is reflected in the increase in the number of ATMs all over the world. ATM is one of the most widely used remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the growth of ATMs of different bank groups in India.
International Scenario
If ATMs are largely available over geographically dispersed areas, the benefit from using an ATM will increase as customers will be able to access their bank accounts from any geographic location. This would imply that the value of an ATM network increases with the number of available ATM locations, and the value of a bank network to a customer will be determined in part by the final network size of the banking system. The statistical information on the growth of branches and ATM network in select countries.
Indian Scenario
The financial services industry in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth, diversification and specialization since the initiation of financial sector reforms in 1991. Greater customer orientation is the only way to retain customer loyalty and withstand competition in the liberalized world. In a market-driven strategy of development, customer preference is of paramount importance in any economy. Gone are the days when customers used to come to the doorsteps of banks. Now the banks are required to chase the customers; only those banks which are customercentric and extremely focused on the needs of their clients can succeed in their business today.
