Marketing Strategy and Launch Plan for Citibank Credit Cards in Asia Pacific

Recently, I got the opportunity to visit Citibank's Dhaka office and gone through  the Launch Plan Strategy for of their Credit Cards in Asia Pacific. Here is the review of the same.

Product and service overview:
Citibank is going to launch a credit card in Asia Pacific. Their offering has been focused on existing market with an emphasis on the middle-income segment. The credit card will be priced at a premium to match the company's existing products and services. It should be introduced as one card with a single set of features. The U.S dollar should be the standard currency for all cards.

Target market:
Citibank's current banking system was based on catering to high net worth customers, offering technologically advanced, innovative, exclusive financial products and services. Customers received very personalized customer service. The company had been successful in reaching affluent upper- and middle-income markets with its current financial offerings.

Competitive positioning:
American Express has a dominant market position in both market share and image. Diner's Club was also prevalent in the region and was especially popular, positioned as a travel and entertainment card for business use. Both American Express and Diner's Club cards are charge cards and the balances have to be paid off at the end of the billing cycle.

In most countries, local banks offered charge cards with balances due monthly. These were usually issued as local-currency cards.

Market entry:
Preliminary market research in Singapore estimated Citibank should undertake a direct marketing campaign using direct mail, take-ones, a sales force, and bind-ins.

Other Strategies:

Building relationships if it doesn’t have a full suite of banking products:
Focus on other touch points such as customer service, communications and branding. The best examples of this are American Express and Discover. Both have focused on customer service. Both compete aggressively for customer service awards so that they can promote this as a competitive advantage in their marketing materials.

Loyalty program that is valuable to the consumer:
Consumers want rewards for items they already purchase and they want instant redemption. The issuer that can crack instant redemption will be on to a winner.

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