Análise de padrões de utilização de canais directos em serviços multi-canal

Abstract

The utilization of several channels during the purchase process is currently recognized. A service provided through more than one channel is known as a multichannel service. With the emergence of multichannel services it becomes important to understand the results of the addition of a new channel, and more specifically if it brings benefits to the company and what kind of costumers are willing to use this new channel. Through a database with almost 200.000 customers of a Portuguese retail bank, holding customer attributes and the transactions conducted by costumers through the direct channels (Internet and telephone), the objective was to investigate the patterns of utilization of direct channels and determine the impact of this utilization on the banks profitability. With the analysis of the utilization patterns the goal was to verify if the use of these channels was identical for all the customers groups and for all the service activities provided simultaneous on both channels. It was found that the main difference in terms of the channel utilization is the intensity of use rather than the relative utilization of the service activities. Two customer groups were identified: heavy users of direct channels and light users of direct channels. In terms of the activities performed on the direct channels, it was found that the costumers tended to use these channels essentially to access information. Concerning the impact of the utilization of direct channels on the customers‟ profitability, the results suggest a positive relationship between the use of direct channels and the costumers‟ profitability. Therefore, it is important that banks offer direct channels to their customer base.

Date of Award	2011
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rui Sousa (Supervisor)