Marketing Analysis: Metro Bank's Strategies and Competitors Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Metro Bank's marketing strategies, focusing on key aspects such as customer needs, wants, and demands, the marketing environment, and competitor analysis. It explores the importance of understanding customer needs and provides examples relevant to Metro Bank's customer base. The report examines the macro environment, identifying technological and economic factors impacting the bank's operations. A competitor analysis table is presented, highlighting key competitors like Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, and HSBC. The report then delves into Metro Bank's marketing mix, describing each of the 7Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, and Physical Evidence) with detailed examples. The analysis aims to understand the essentials of business strategies that can effectively contribute to the growth of retail banks. The report concludes by summarizing key findings and recommendations for Metro Bank's future marketing endeavors.

Running head: METRO BANK
Marketing and Communications
[Metro Bank]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1METRO BANK
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
-Provide an overview of Metro Bank..........................................................................................2
-Outline the purpose of the report................................................................................................2
Task 1: Needs, wants and demand...................................................................................................2
a. Explain the importance of understanding customers’ needs, wants and demands within
marketing.....................................................................................................................................2
b. Using examples, discuss the needs, wants and demands that Metro Bank customers show. .3
Task 2: Marketing environment.......................................................................................................4
a. Explain the relevance of a situation analysis to an organisation.............................................4
b. Considering the macro environment of Metro Bank, identify and discuss one technological
and one economic factor that could impact Metro Bank's business operations.........................4
c. Outline the importance of competitor analysis in marketing...................................................6
d. Identify three key competitors of Metro Bank and create a competitor analysis table:.........6
e. Discuss the findings of the competitor analysis in Section D above, highlighting key areas
for Metro Bank to consider..........................................................................................................7
Task 3: Marketing mix.....................................................................................................................7
a. Using the 7ps of Marketing, identify and describe Metro Bank’s current marketing mix
providing detailed examples for each of the 7Ps discussed.........................................................7
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................9
References:....................................................................................................................................10

2METRO BANK
Introduction:
-Provide an overview of Metro Bank
Metro Bank has presented a different banking concept to Britain people as they are no
longer required to book an appointment to get their requirements fulfilled at banks. It was
launched in 2010 in London. Metro Bank offers services for the entire week from 8 AM. - 8 PM.
It has revolutionized the banking industry and challenged major retail banks with exclusive
specialties like high-standard customer service (Metrobankonline.co.uk 2018). Interestingly,
customers are now able to open up their accounts within a day. The bank is also unique in
strategy making as evident from its expansion for which they had not considered purchasing
branches of rival companies. They have rather considered an organic expansion and have
focused on having close to 100 branches by 2020. They are popularly known as a high-standard
customer service. The future expansion will therefore rely much on how they maintain their
service (Metrobankonline.co.uk 2018). This study is purposefully aimed at understanding the
essentials of business strategies which can effectively help to grow with incrementing numbers
of retail banks.
-Outline the purpose of the report
As stated above, the study is purposefully aimed at understanding the essentials of
business which are considered during business expansions. The case study organization is Metro
Bank which had revolutionized the banking sector by bringing a different concept to it. It has
offered street side retail outlets where customers can visit without booking an appointment.
Moreover, stores are open at anytime between 8 AM to 8 PM 7 days in a week. The purpose of
this assignment is to understand the different factors which may impact the business expansion
of Metro Bank.
Task 1: Needs, wants and demand
a. Explain the importance of understanding customers’ needs, wants and
demands within marketing
The three terms needs, wants and demands do keep much of importance for a business
and for its success in the existing or the target market. ‘Needs’ can be understood as the service

3METRO BANK
or product which is essential requirements of customers on a daily basis and so. ‘Wants’, on the
other hand, are the product or service that customer need (Pike 2015). The two terms ‘needs’ and
‘wants’ though have the same meaning; however, both differ to each other significantly. The
product or service which is essential to customer can be regarded as ‘needs’. On the other hand,
product or service which customer decide to purchase on being influenced by external factors
like executive selling skills, the product features or others. Moreover, customers are made to
realize the importance of such products or services (Pike 2015). ‘Demands’ can be regarded as
product or service which customer expect from their specific brands or the industry. This can be
an updated version of the existing product or so (Pike 2015).
b. Using examples, discuss the needs, wants and demands that Metro Bank
customers show
Needs- The ‘needs' of Metro Bank customers are account opening or any other task that does not
require an authorization from the banking officials like the branch manager. Additionally, they
can also make transaction which is very useful for elder people as they have comparatively very
less acquaintance to mobile banking services (Armstrong et al. 2014). The ‘needs’ can also be
understood from an example of customer basically need calling from a mobile phone. Millennial
customers do also need internet compatibility with the phone. Therefore, every single phone is
being manufactured while keeping in mind that it offers the two most basic needs from a phone.
Wants- Digitalization of banking sector can be regarded as ‘wants' to customers. It is an
inevitable fact that customer still has their enlarged trust on physical or personal visit to banks.
On the other hand, physical banks are still far much behind in the age of digitalization. Online
banking is much quicker than the physical banking system (Armstrong et al. 2014). Additionally,
there exist two types of customers like the one who prefers visiting physical branches and
another who prefer online transactions over physical banking. However, those customers in
specific the millennial customers are aware of it that online transactions are not much secure. In
this regards, it appears like that majority of customers will still be relying on physical banking
but wanting a different concept like the retail banking. It offers them a digitalized form of
banking activities (Armstrong et al. 2014).

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Demands- Customer demands from Metro Bank can be understood from an example of the
buying behavior of customers for Smartphone. Customer’s expectations are getting high which is
also impacting the manufacturing behavior of different Smartphone brands. Different brands are
now focused on incepting advanced technologies to offer customers a much superior camera
quality and so (Baptista and Oliveira 2015). Following the same way, this can be said that
customers can have demands like doing those activities also that require authorization from
banking officials like the branch manager.
Task 2: Marketing environment
a. Explain the relevance of a situation analysis to an organisation
Situation analysis can be regarded as strategy which an organization conduct to identify
its internal and external business environment. By doing this, the organization gets able to know
its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is indeed important to know the area of
improvement or also the probable opportunities. It is also necessary to know how much the rival
companies are threatening to an organization (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015).
It also helps to know the external business environment where an organization operates.
This is also very necessary as it provides information on some useful factors which could affect
the business. It tells the political condition of the country where the business operates. It also
tells the economic, social, technological, environmental and legal aspects of the country of
operations. The different factors that an external business environment covers do affect the
business from different perspectives (Chen et al. 2014). For example, if political factors are not
suitable this will definitely impact the business. Like it happened to Seagate in Singapore where
the company has closed one of its plants to remain cost-effective but had to struggle for
unfavorable policies like giving higher compensations amounts to affected labors.
b. Considering the macro environment of Metro Bank, identify and discuss one
technological and one economic factor that could impact Metro Bank's
business operations
Political Economic Social Technological Environmental Legal
- -There is a notable -Consumer behavior -This is perhaps one -It may also It does

5METRO BANK
Government
policies will
play major
role in the
future
operations of
Metro Bank
-A favorable
political
background
will produce
supportive
environment
for the bank
impact of income
flow on the
banking sector
-A prospering
income flow will
also ensure that
customer needs the
number of
transactions from
Metro Bank
is vital to the
success of Metro
Bank
-It may be
successful in
attracting Boomers
and Baby Boomers;
however, millennial
customers will still
want relying on
mobile internet
banking. However,
a more and more
digitalization of
services at Metro
Bank may help to
attract few numbers
of Millennial
customers as well
of the most
dominating factors
for the success of
Metro Bank. The era
of digitalization has
produced the
necessity to incept
various technologies
to ensure a more
advanced form of
service and thereby,
helping the physical
banks to be as one of
the choices for a mass
customer.
-A smartphone is one
of the technologies
which has not only
enabled the
transaction service to
happen but has also
allowed the scanning
of cheques. Hence,
the clearance will
now require a much
reduced time span.
have an impact.
-The use of
mobile banking
has reduced the
usage of papers
which may
significantly
contribute to
the lessening of
environmental
pollution
also
impact
as banks
are
required
to follow
the
different
laws
regardin
g the
customer
privacy
and
consume
r laws.
Table 1: Macro Environment of Metro Bank
(Source: Metrobankonline.co.uk 2018)
The one technological factor that could impact the business of Metro Bank will be the use of
Smartphone. The use of Smartphone has made things easier by enabling customers for various
works on internet. One of the most advanced applications is scanning of cheques. The one
economic factor could be the cash flow. The concept as such of Metro Bank does support

6METRO BANK
transaction facilities. An improved economy will attract more and more people doing the
transaction.
c. Outline the importance of competitor analysis in marketing
To fulfill the needs of customers is an utmost responsibility of business organization.
However, the needs cannot be fulfilled by just offering customers a wide range of product or
service. It rather requires an understanding of what competitor companies are offering to
customers in the industry. This is needed to offer a much competitive product or service from
different perspectives like cost-effective and quality-oriented.
d. Identify three key competitors of Metro Bank and create a competitor analysis
table:
Metro Bank Lloyds Banking Group Royal Bank of
Scotland
HSBC
Total assets
(£bn)
It is still in growing
stage with an asset
10.06
(Metrobankonline.co.u
k 2018)
One of the biggest digital
banks in the UK with 817
customers
(Lloydsbankinggroup.com
2018)
It is another
competitor
company to
Metro Bank
with 783
(Rbs.com
2018)
The biggest
retail bank in
the UK with
1,936
(HSBC.com
2018)
No. of
customers
1,124,000 with a 33%
year-on-year increment
rate
(Metrobankonline.co.u
k 2018)
16 million customers
(Lloydsbankinggroup.com
2018)
30 million
customers
(Rbs.com
2018)
38 million
customers
(HSBC.com
2018)
No. of
employees
2,129
(Metrobankonline.co.u
k 2018)
45,856
(Lloydsbankinggroup.com
2018)
71,200
(Rbs.com
2018)
228,687
(HSBC.com
2018)
Products Credit cards, corporate
banking and consumer
banking
(Metrobankonline.co.u
Banking and insurance
(Lloydsbankinggroup.com
2018)
Finance &
insurance,
corporate
banking, retail
Retail banking,
investment
banking,
corporate

7METRO BANK
k 2018) banking,
mortgages,
credit cards,
investment
banking and
consumer
banking
(Rbs.com
2018)
banking,
private,
mortgage,
wealth
management,
private
banking,
finance,
insurance and
credit cards
(HSBC.com
2018)
Table 2: Three Key Competitors to Metro Bank
(Source: created by author)
e. Discuss the findings of the competitor analysis in Section D above, highlighting
key areas for Metro Bank to consider
The comparison with the three biggest banks like HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and
RBS just shows that Metro Bank still has much to prove in the coming future. The bank is
actually nowhere in competition with the three giant banks. However, Metro Bank is slowly
climbing up the ladder of success. Based on above analysis, few areas have been found where
Metro Bank needs to focus much. They need an incrementing graph for branches, so that, they
could offer services to a wider customer base and hence, be able to enhance their total assets
value. In this way, they will need to recruit more professionals to support wider customer base
and hence, number of employees will also improve (Cubas‐Díaz and Martínez Sedano 2018).
Task 3: Marketing mix
a. Using the 7ps of Marketing, identify and describe Metro Bank’s current marketing
mix providing detailed examples for each of the 7Ps discussed
Product-

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It offers personal internet banking, mobile banking, mortgages, opening of bank
accounts, quick access savings, careers and lot more (Metrobankonline.co.uk 2018).
Place-
They have targeted the high street areas, the area which is accessible to customers, so
that, their benefits get double. Additionally, it is also accessible to customers due to its strategy
for location (Metrobankonline.co.uk 2018).
Price-
Commercial loans are available in terms from 1 to 30 years. Fees and rates are simple to
each of the loan category. Professional landlords can avail a solo loan size of approximately
£250,000 per property. Loans are available on an interesting basis for 25 years. Customer can
also buy assets; however, they are allowed to repay the amount in a 5 years term
(Metrobankonline.co.uk 2018).
Promotion-
Metro Bank does not rely on advertising strategies which is why they do not spend much
on advertisement. Additionally, they do not also rely on introductory incentive offers and sales
incentives. The management has always relied on word-of-mouth publicity
(Metrobankonline.co.uk 2018).
People-
They are quite different to many in terms of people as they welcome fresh applicants
from every corner of the country. They have a very healthy diversity rate with the fresh
recruitment. The number of female and male workers is almost the same when they are being
hired. It just indicates that they believe in spreading a positive message across the country
(Metrobankonline.co.uk 2018).
Processes-
They have several processes to deliver their service. They are open both in the format of
a branch bank and also in the ATM format. Additionally, they are also providing mobile banking

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and personal internet banking options. This means they are offering digitalized services to
customers (Metrobankonline.co.uk 2018).
Physical Evidence-
Physical evidence includes but is not limited to like printed documents indicating
different services with the bank such as mortgage and personal bank account details. They also
offer cash transaction receipt in the ATM branches (Metrobankonline.co.uk 2018).
Conclusion:
To conclude, this can be said that Metro Bank is providing some promising services to
customers in the form of being flexible with the business time and the technological
advancement. However, the bank still has a long way to cover as it is much more behind to top
retail banks like HSBC, RBC and Lloyds Banking Group. This is also evident that other banks
are providing the same services; however, the unique selling point has been the official time
which offers customer a physical banking throughout the week from 8am-8pm.

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References:
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. and Kotler, P., 2014. Principles of marketing. Pearson
Australia.
Baptista, G. and Oliveira, T., 2015. Understanding mobile banking: The unified theory of
acceptance and use of technology combined with cultural moderators. Computers in Human
Behavior, 50, pp.418-430.
Chen, Y., Wang, Y., Nevo, S., Jin, J., Wang, L. and Chow, W.S., 2014. IT capability and
organizational performance: the roles of business process agility and environmental
factors. European Journal of Information Systems, 23(3), pp.326-342.
Cubas‐Díaz, M. and Martínez Sedano, M.Á., 2018. Measures for Sustainable Investment
Decisions and Business Strategy–A Triple Bottom Line Approach. Business Strategy and the
Environment, 27(1), pp.16-38.
Fleisher, C.S. and Bensoussan, B.E., 2015. Business and competitive analysis: effective
application of new and classic methods. FT Press.
HSBC.com. 2018. HSBC Group corporate website | HSBC Holdings plc. [online] Available at:
http://www.hsbc.com/ [Accessed 14 Mar. 2018].
Lloydsbankinggroup.com. 2018. Home - Lloyds Banking Group plc. [online] Available at:
http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/ [Accessed 14 Mar. 2018].
Metrobankonline.co.uk. 2018. Culture and diversity at Metro Bank | About us | Metro Bank.
[online] Available at: https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/about-us/culture-diversity/ [Accessed
14 Mar. 2018].
Pike, S., 2015. Destination Marketing: Essentials. Routledge.
Rbs.com. 2018. rbs.com. [online] Available at: https://www.rbs.com/ [Accessed 14 Mar. 2018].