NatWest Marketing Strategy & Marketing Mix (4Ps)

Published in Services category by MBA Skool Team

Marketing Strategy of NatWest analyzes the brand with the marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). These business strategies, based on NatWest marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market. Let us start the NatWest Marketing Strategy & Mix to understand its product, pricing, advertising & distribution strategies:

NatWest Product Strategy:

The product strategy and mix in NatWest marketing strategy can be explained as follows:

NatWest is one of the largest British banks, and is a subsidiary of RBS Group. The product basket of NatWest bank has a varied mix and caters to many segments. The NatWest bank offers various banking and related financial services in its marketing mix like insurance and investment solutions. The bank also offers overdraft services. It offers different bank accounts like every day, joint, current, saving, children account, joint account. The bank also offers bank account to EU nationals from other countries than UK. It also offers service of switching existing bank account to NatWest Bank. Apart from these, the bank also has premium, business and international services on offer.

The bank offers standard set of loans for Car, debt consolidation, home improvement, holidays, wedding etc. The bank also provides home insurance, car insurance and life insurance. In startups package, 18 months free service account is provided. It also has Online banking services and credit, debit cards. The overdraft services can be availed by students and graduates. This bank has exceptional efforts to cater to the customers with disability and has designed some special products for them.


Image: Wikimedia


NatWest Price/Pricing Strategy:

Below is the pricing strategy in NatWest marketing strategy:

NatWest offers free premium services with the prerequisite of having salary account in NatWest with sole income of minimum £100,000 or joint income of £120,000. The person is eligible for premium services if he/she has minimum outstanding borrowings from NatWest of £500,000 or investments or savings of at least £100,000.

For credit card services different criteria are applied depending on card and API on card varies accordingly. For clear rate Platinum and Reward Credit cards, minimum annual income limit is £10K and for Reward Black Credit card it is £15K. The details of various types of credit cards can be found on website. For personal loans in the range of £7500 to £19,950, the flat rate of 3.4 APR is applicable. For amounts other than these, the rate is decided on the basis of circumstances and loan amount. The Reward account of NatWest offers 2% cash back on seven types of household bills (ex. water) when paid by the DirectDebit.

NatWest Place & Distribution Strategy:

Following is the distribution strategy in the NatWest marketing mix:

NatWest is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland Group. The bank is operative mostly in Great Britain and Ireland. In UK it has network of over 960 branches and 3400 cash machines. It also has round the clock service of Actionline Telephone and Online banking. The personal customer base of the bank is over 7.5 million and has 850,000 small business accounts. The mobile banking came into existence in 2005 in Cornwall. The mobile branches are working in rural area around St. Austell, Swansea, Carlisle, Devon and North Wales. Due to this, the banking transactions have become accessible to people in remote areas where physical branches are not available. NatWest Bank is functional mainly in UK with Headquarter located in Bishopsgate, London. Through the Branch Locator, the nearest branch to you, cash machine, working hours can be found out. In Ireland it is operative through subsidiary of ‘Ulster Bank’.

In some of the locations like Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Gibraltar, the name of the bank is changed to NatWest International because of ring-fencing legislation in the UK.


NatWest Promotion & Advertising Strategy:

The promotional and advertising strategy in the NatWest marketing strategy is as follows:

NatWest Bank was awarded ‘Best banking App’ by British Bank Awards in 2017. The bank has social media presence on FaceBook and Twitter. The Facebook page of the bank gives the information about all the ongoing promotional activities. The latest campaign by the bank deals with educating the customers about online fraud. The campaign is called ‘Stop the Fraud’ and has developed relevant advertisements. The promotional events related to special days/events like ‘Remembrance’ day are handled. Currently NatWest has eh offer of ‘Win i-phone X’. In this the participant has to install the NatWest app on their mobile device (if not already) and carry out two transactions before 3rd December 2017. The brand is associated with limited over cricket tournaments in England. They also sponsor Southern Paintball League in South England. Through NatWest Community Platform, it is associated with many local charities and help in furthering their causes.


Since this is a service marketing brand, here are the other three Ps to make it the 7Ps marketing mix of NatWest.


People:

Any person above 18 years of age and capable of self-employment can apply for NatWest bank account. NatWest has taken special efforts and initiative for people with disabilities and made banking more convenient for them specialized products like Accessible debit card developed in collaboration with Royal National Institute of Blind people. NatWest has made online banking accessible to the customer of age 11 years and above. The bank han unique ‘MoneySense’ program where young people from the age range of 5-18 are educated in money matters. The program is run free of cost as bank believes it is important and equips them to handle financial matters in adult life. Based on the research findings that 7-15 years old think of not having enough money, bank appointed Mog as a junior consultant. NatWest TechXperts are trained personnel based in each branch account and help the customer to set up and understand mobile and online banking accounts.


Process:

NatWest Bank has a well-constructed website incorporating details of all the financial services offered. It provides all the details of banking processes carried out and products available. The support center has frequently asked questions about personal account, online banking and mobile banking and also has informative videos. The travel plans can be registered through online banking and current account management service can be requested. For fingertip log in to mobile banking is available through iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 plus and Android devices with fingerprints authentication. NatWest Mobile banking allows payment up to £250 and cash access without debit card. The maximum limit for it is £130 in 24 hours and counted in daily withdrawal limit. The MoneySense program for financial education is implemented with the help of games, videos and interactives to make them financially literate and confident in these areas. They also assist in financial education in curriculum with the contribution of free accredited curriculum linked resources.


Physical Evidence:

NatWest ban has an innovative ‘mobile branches’ with converted vans are used for banking in rural areas. To make the branches convenient for the customers, different measures are taken. Some of it include improved lighting, installation of handrails to steps, automatic or power assisted doors, layout and signage designed with suitable color contrast for assistance of visually impaired customers. The bank credit cards include Clear rate platinum credit card, Reward and Reward Black Credit card and Student credit card. They have special Accessibility debit card designed for blind or partially blind individuals. It has features like notch on side for proper insertion into cash machine or card reader, raised dots for differentiation between saving and debit card and enlarged font size of telephone numbers on the back of the card. NatWest app is compatible with iPad, Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD. The mobile banking is available on android and iPhones. Hence this completes the marketing mix of NatWest.


About NatWest:

The National Westminster Bank also called NatWest is one of the largest bank in United Kingdom. It is functional in commercial and retail sector and was established in 1968 by merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank.

It has a strong presence across the UK and has several branches catering to customer needs. Natwest also offers several online banking services for retail as well as enterprise customers. 

This article has been researched & authored by the Content & Research Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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The names and other brand information used in the Marketing Strategy & Mix section are properties of their respective companies. The companies are not associated with MBA Skool in any way.

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