The retail
industry is in the midst of a profound shift – driven by a new age of digital
consumerism and the march of technology. Consumers are value-conscious,
inundated with choices and empowered by personal technology
As
businesses shift from the traditional brick and mortar approach of engaging
customers to e-commerce, it has become more evident that financial
institutions, especially banks’ business models must change. Banks cannot
afford to carry on business as usual, hence the need to evolve from building
more banking halls to creating technological solutions which allow customers to
conduct seamless transactions online to aid financial inclusion.
According to
the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the number of active mobile phone
lines recorded in the country rose from 142million in November 2017 to 144
million in December 2017. Statistics from the Nigeria Interbank Settlement
System (NIBSS) also showed that the total value of transactions for four major
electronic payment channels namely NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP), NIBSS
Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), Point of Sale (PoS), and Mobile
(Inter-scheme) transactions rose by 35% to N69.7 trillion in 2017 from N51.6
trillion in 2016. This reflects the market potentials within the country and
the growing need for digital solutions through which every Nigerian, both in
the rural and urban area, can easily make transactions without joining banking
hall queues for long hours.
The
emergence of Financial Technology (FinTech) companies in the Nigerian financial
ecosystem has also changed the dynamics within the landscape, thereby
challenging financial services’ players especially deposit money banks to be
more innovative in creating digital solutions required to meet customers’ needs
and improve customer experience.
On the other
hand, “digital retailing” has seen customers embrace the Do-It-Yourself
(DIY)[self-service] approach of conducting banking transactions—from account
opening within minutes to making payments online anywhere, and at any time
through banks’ mobile applications. This has largely been facilitated by
massive technology investment in the banking industry in a fast-changing
business world. Besides the seamless transactions on secure platforms, digital
retailing makes access to customer’s data easy; this enhances the improvement
of the customers experience by personalizing services for every customer.
Most
Nigerian financial institutions are taking giant strides to ensure they remain
in sync with today’s digital customer behavioural and expectation patterns. A
cursory look at Nigeria’s largest bank by tier 1 capital, which hither to the
last couple of years was seen as a majorly corporate banking focused player
provides deep insight into the future directional path of the nation’s banking
sector.
Zenith Bank
Plc has introduced a myriad of digital solutions in the last year and a half
that cuts across the Nigerian retail spectrum and addresses the peculiarities
of today’s audiences; focusing majorly on transaction safety, speed,
convenience and user experience. An example in this regard is the extension of
its account opening options to several channels that include its mobile banking
app, *966# Eazybanking, its website (www.zenithbank.com) and its Facebook page,
all in a bid to enable people open accounts without having to visit its
branches.
Zenith Bank
has also published 3 free for download apps on the Android and IOS app stores
to facilitate customer transactions. The Bank has a dynamic mobile banking app,
that is adjourned by users to be one of the most friendly and easy to use bank
applications available today. It also has a Scan to Pay app that reduces in
store merchant payments to seconds through quick response (QR) code scanning on
any internet enabled phone and is one of only a few apps in Nigeria to support
MasterPass and Visa payments. Third in its mobile app genre is an e-token app
that allows customers authenticate alternative channel (Mobile, POS and Online)
transactions without needing to have a hardware token.
Like other
Nigerian deposit money banks, Zenith Bank has also introduced a USSD banking
solution tagged *966# Eazybanking that allows its audiences perform
transactions on any phone type by simple dialling short codes.
As Nigerian
banks continue to re-evolve retail banking to deepen financial inclusion,
digital retailing in banking will continue to rise given consumers’ choice for
convenience, speed, security and efficiency in banking transactions.
Thus, it is
essential for banks to focus on providing a more frictionless digital
experience to their customers, especially in a highly competitive market.
Beyond retail savings, more can be done in small-scale loans to the retail
sector of the Nigerian economy. For Zenith Bank, the quest to continue to act
in the “best interest of its customers” has just begun.