International Marketing of HSBC: Expanding Credit Card Services to Norway and France

This report discusses the international marketing plan of HSBC for expanding its credit card services to Norway and France. It includes an overview of services, rationale for expansion, competitor analysis, positioning strategy, and more.

Global Market

Executive Summary
This report will discuss International Marketing of HSBC. HSBC is a multinational company and
bank and this is why it serves around 65 countries and has 3900 offices in there. Products of
HSBC are more than banking services. Retail Banking services refer to services of bank in which
its banking are given to all the customers mainly includes general banking services. Corporate
Banking service includes giving services of bank to corporate and business organisation.
Investment banking refers to banking services in which bank gives services related to investment
in securities and offering services and expertise in the field of investments. Mortgage Loans, this
service of HSBC bank includes where bank provides loans on mortgage to its customers. Private
banking refers to banking service in which services of banks are given to individual and family
and are specifically designed for them. These individuals and families are those which have high
net income and this private banking service is client based service. Wealth Management, this
service of banks is an investment advisory service in this other financial services of bank are
combined so that bank can address the needs of its affluent clients.

Table of Contents
Global Market..................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Overview of Services and Rationale for Expansion....................................................................3
Profiling of the External Environment........................................................................................4
Competitor Analysis and Positioning Strategy............................................................................6
Marketing Strategy......................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
International Marketing refers to efforts of company in context of marketing where it
expands its operations to markets which are out of its national boundaries. This report will
address and discuss about international marketing plan of HSBC. This is a British multinational
investment bank and financial service company (Islam, 2018). Founded firstly in 1865 as The
Hongkong and Shanghai Bank and as HSBC holdings in 1991 and is headquartered at London,
UK. Services of the bank are Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Investment Banking and
Mortgage Loans, Private Banking, Wealth Management, Credit Card, Finance and Insurance.
This report will address expansion of the credit card services of the HSBC bank on international
level. This report will address marketing strategies for HSBC bank the international level and for
developing marketing strategies the report will also discuss competitors analysis of the HSBC at
Norway and France and positioning map and strategy for HSBC credit card at Norway and
France.
Overview of Services and Rationale for Expansion
Credit card Service of the HSBC bank includes giving credit card services to customers
(Naheem, 2016). Finance services refer to services which includes advancing loans and giving
overdraft services to the customers etc(Johannes, Dedy and Muksin, 2018). Insurance service of
the bank includes giving services of insurance to the customers.
Credit card service of HSBC is varied in several forms. HSBC provides different type of
credit cards with their respective terms and conditions. Credit cards which are provided by
HSBC are HSBC cashback credit card, HSBC visa platinum card, HSBC smart value credit card,
HSBC Premier Mastercard and Advance Visa Platinum Credit card. Credit card services of
HSBC are available in around 64 countries in the World.
This report will include international marketing plan for providing service of its credit card
services to Norway and France. Norway is a developed country and its spending rates are higher
and in such case it will be easy for HSBC to promote its services because income of people is
higher in Norway. This leads to their high expenditure and this present an opportunity for HSBC
to expand its credit card services to Norway (Salamah, 2017). On the other hand other country

where HSBC can expand its credit card service is France, the France has been selected as other
country for expansion of credit card service of HSBC. This is because France is considered to be
one of the country where credit card is highly used (Naheem, 2018). This presents an opportunity
for HSBC to expand its credit card to France. Through this HSBC will be able to fulfil the needs
of people as credit cards. Credit cards are being increasingly used in all the countries and this
present a very attractive opportunity in front of HSBC that they expand its credit card services in
other countries (Osituyo, Marnet and Dawson, 2017). Another reason and rationale for expansion
of credit card service is that credit card have more customers as unlike financial and investment
services use of credit card is not limited. In expansion of credit card services HSBC can also
target various customers groups based on their education level and interest and their age.
Profiling of the External Environment
This includes discussion and assessment of external environment in context of credit card
service expansion in Norway and France (Salamah, 2017). The Factors which are included in
external environment of the business are political, economic, social, technological, legal and
environmental.
Political Factor
Credit card holders and customers of credit cards have to follow the rules and regulations
of the bank and rules and regulations of the bank can be easily impacted and affected by the rules
and regulations of the country. The rules and regulations of the bank are also required to be in
line with rules and regulations of the government. In this HSBC will have to impact and rules of
individual countries for their banking organisations. To what extent these affect operations of
bank and its freedom of operations (Perera, 2017). In this context Norway is better choice than
France as Norway has more economic freedom than France this means that HSBC can easily
carry out its business operations in the Norway as compared with France.
Economic Factor
This includes various types of taxes which are imposed on the banks and its services. In
case taxes in the services of the bank are high this will increase cost of services (Mbithi, Muturi
and Rambo, 2017). This also includes consideration of factors like GDP and interest rates. In

both this factors Norway is better than France. The reason behind this is that Norway’s GDP is
higher than GDP of the France.
Social Factors
This factor is concerned with social aspect of the business. In this HSBC needs to
consider its potential customers and its target market in both the countries. Economically
Norway is strong and people who use credit cards are higher in France than Norway (Policy,
2016). This suggests that both the companies are suitable for expansion of credit card service of
HSBC.
Technological Factor
As people in France are already using credit card more than comparing to Norway it
shows that they can use this service of the bank. But as people are already using this and all the
countries now provide such services company can expand its operations in the Norway as well
(Lancaster and Massingham, 2017).
Legal Factor
This is about rules and regulations which are imposed on a business by the law of
country. This factor is more favourable for HSBC in Norway than France as their laws provide
opportunity for free operations of the business (Zafar and Kantola, 2019). On the other hand laws
in France are strict comparing to Norway this might create a problem for the bank while entering
and starting business.
Environmental/Ethical Factor
Expansion of credit card business does not impact environment in any context and this is
why company does not need to focus on this factor (Reinhardt and et.al., 2017). Ethically this
service is ethically responsible and does not harm any ethical value and culture of the country.
This analysis states that conditions o external environment are more favourable in
Norway in terms of political and above that economic conditions of Norway are also better than
France this is because Norway is a developed country and per capita income of disposable

income is higher at Norway and these factors are most favourable for a Credit card business.
Hence, the country selected for the product is Norway.
Competitor Analysis and Positioning Strategy
Expansion of business and its profitability get significantly affected by competitors and
this requires that before decision of Expansion HSBC needs to carry out its competitor’s analysis
(Griffiths, Fenton and Fletcher, 2019). For this competitor analysis in both the countries Norway
and France will be carried out followed by Perceptual/Positioning Map.
To analyse competitors HSBC first needs to identify who can be its competitors in
Norway and in France. This includes those organisations providing credit card services and those
who are providing substitute options for credit card (Fenton, Gallagher and Heinze, 2019). This
is because competitors of the company are not limited to those who are providing same and
similar service but also those who provide a service that can replace the service of the company.
After identifying competitors in both the countries HSBC needs to identify what are the
products which are being provided by the competitors (Jia and et.al., 2017). Products needs to
include quality of the product, specific feature associated with and price of the product which is
being provided by the competitors.
Identifying Sales techniques and marketing strategies of the competitors. In this HSBC
needs to identify and research about techniques being used by the competitors to sale their
products and what are the strategies they are employing to attract customers (Yan, S and et.al.,
2017). This will also give idea to HSBC about the marketing strategies which are useful and
successful in Norway and France.
This will be followed by positioning of the HSBC (Koo and et.al., 2017). Perceptual/Positioning
Map can be used by HSBC to position its products in both the markets.
Perceptual Map
Positioning maps shows the present positioning of the company and this is why company
can decide where they what to position themselves (Yilma and et.al., 2019). There are two forms
in which companies can position themselves and one of the form in which is that they position
their product to fill the existing gap in the market or they can compete against existing

competitors. In context of HSBC they can adopt second options. The reason behind this is that
credit cards are already in use and both the markets Norway and France already have credit card
service. This is why competing and positioning service against existing competitors is the only
option left with HSBC.
Perceptual Map for Norway
The company will have to position its product in Norway at mid level in terms of cost
and utility. This is because Visa, Mastercard and American express are its strong competitors and
at the same they are widely accepted and their utility is higher (Valdés‐Conroy and et.al., 2018).
This is why it needs to position itself at mid level this will avoid perception related to its quality
which can develop because of low price and at the same time this will also get time to attract
customers through its marketing strategies and at the same time increase its utility.
Price
Price of the credit card service is the cost of credit card and later interest which customers are
required to pay for the service being used by the customers. In expansion of its credit card
service HSBC needs to consider the cost of its services in Norway and France. Interest rate of the
service also depends on the rules and regulations which are decided by the law for regulating
banking operations (Gigauri, 2019). Pricing of the credit card and its cost affect decision of the
buyers and this is why price of credit card services which means its interest rates should be low
in order to increase and promote its sales in France. This is also a adapted strategy and this is
why Pricing for Norway and France needs to be different (Key and Czaplewski, 2017). In
relations with its pricing at Norway HSBC needs to keep its price low because Norway have less
existing customers for credit card. HSBC can attract more customers by offering its service at
low price.
Distribution Strategy
Credit card service is generally available at bank and branches and place of HSBC bank. But this
is a service that HSBC can sell online and this is why HSBC needs to find out possibilities to sell
the credit card online. This is a strategy for place of the HSBC that it can use at both the markets
Norway and France.

9 Strategic Window Matrix
This model provides 9 strategies which can be used by companies while
internationalizing their products. These strategies are-
Stay at Home, this strategy are for those industries which are immature in terms of preparedness
and at the same time they are local companies of a nation (Mujiyanti and et.al., 2019).
Consolidate export market, this strategy can be applied when preparedness of the company for
internationalization is at adolescent level and the company is local then they can consolidate
market for export.
Enter new business, this strategy can be utilized when company is operating at local level and at
the same time they are mature for internationalization (Brown, Naylor and Quinn, 2017). They
can enter new business in another nation.
Seek Niche in international market, this is the strategy which can be utilized by the companies
which are immature in terms of preparedness for internationalization but at the same time they
are potentially global.
Consider Expansion in international market, this strategy is suitable for the companies which
are potentially global and in terms of preparedness they are at adolescent level. Such companies
can expand its products in international market (Betz and Betz, 2018).
Prepare for globalization, companies which are potentially global and at the same time they are
mature in terms of preparedness for internationalization then they can prepare for globalization.
Prepare for a buyout, this strategy is suitable for those which companies are immature in terms
of buyout and are already a global company (Schmid, 2018). Company need to prepare itself for
a buyout.
Seek global alliance, this strategy is suitable for those companies which are at adolescent level
in terms of preparedness for internationalization and in terms of their global status which are
already global.

Strengthen Global Existence, this strategy is for those companies which are already global and
in terms of their preparedness for internationalization they are at mature (Betz and Betz, 2018).
HSBC which is global company and at the same time mature in terms of
internationalization preparedness this is why company needs to strengthen its global existence.
This is why company is expanding its services in other countries so that its global existence can
be strengthened.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above analysis it can be concluded that internationalization is a significant
decision for the companies. HSBC which is already a global company needs to consider its
products which it can internationalize in the countries where its existence is limited. This will
add value and will strengthen its global reach. For this purpose this report included marketing
mix and marketing strategy that company can adopt for its internationalization. On the basis of
this planning and strategy it can be said that both Norway and France have their own positive
and negative aspects to consider while internationalization of the credit card but Norway in some
of the terms are better option for the company. Norway is a better option because Norway is a
developed country and GDP per capita is higher in Norway this suggest that their spending are
also higher and this is why credit card have more scope in Norway and Norway as a cash
economy also present a very attractive opportunity for credit card service expansion.

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