Author:

Galina S. TIMOKHINA Cand. Sc. (Econ.), Associate Professor of Marketing Dept. Plekhanov Russian University of Economics

Abstract:

The existing studies of consumer behaviour in the unique Russian market for private banking services characterized by scarce information disclosed and extreme privacy are generally fragmented and non-consistent in nature. The article analyses the results of a longitudinal comparative study of consumer behaviour for 2016–2018 and identifies trends in its development. The theoretical and methodological basis is multidisciplinary and encompasses the model of consumption values, market segmentation theory, and the theory of planned behavior. The research method includes a set of desk and field investigations with a dominance of qualitative research methods in the form of in-depth interviews with market participants. The paper introduces the author’s interpretation of the term “consumer of private banking services” and systematizes unique, due to extreme privacy, information about Russian high-income consumers. Based on these data, the author creates a composite portrait of a target customer for the three-year monitoring period. The results reveal that the segment of high-income consumers is split into sub-segments based on differences in behavioral characteristics, and sub-segments are transformed into niches according to dissimilarities in psychographic features. The study discusses consumers’ main activities at different stages of decision-making, looks at behavioural dynamics and provides practical recommendations for optimistic and pessimistic scenarios of the development of market competition. The research findings are of practical importance for bank management when making managerial and marketing decisions on the development of the private banking services market.

Keywords:

marketing research; the Russian market; private banking services; consumer behavior.

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