Abstract
Today, consumers are more individualistic than ever and they expect financial products and services to address them as individuals. In this environment, the mass market is no longer the target, but rather a series of small sub-market sectors.
While financial services firms can survive without a niche, to flourish in today' s consumer market requires a greater concentration on specific market segments. The major institutions are finding that if they remain as generalists, their products and services become diluted, while smaller firms are better able to compete against the high street giants if they attempt to carve out a niche for themselves.
This report looks at four key niche target groups within the financial services industry:
- newly arrived Eastern and Central European immigrants
- students
- seniors (over-65s)
- investors who want to buy Shari' a-compliant financial products.
A core focus will be on the process of finding and serving these potentially profitable market segments and on the current efforts that have been made to design custom-made products or services for them. The report draws on a mixture of industry and consumer research, including exclusively commissioned research covering product ownership and attitudes among both Central and Eastern European immigrants, and the Muslim community - two market segments that have attracted considerable attention from even mainstream financial services firms.
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