A STUDY ON CONSUMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS RETAIL BANKING

Abstract

In India, the banking sector is essential to the nation's economic progress and serves as the backbone of the money market. One of India's largest service industries and its main engine of economic expansion is the banking sector. Currently, it has a dynamic issue that affects both its consumer base and performance in order to offer effective services to its clients. By offering higher-quality services, banks are working hard to win the happiness of their customers. Banks' focus nowadays has switched from customer acquisition to customer retention and satisfaction. Banking services play a significant role in customer satisfaction in today's competitive economy, and service quality has emerged as one of the key factors. The provision of better services to customers has thus recently become one of the focal points of the service agenda of banks, and it is only the quality of competitive banking. It has also been realised that the key to surviving the fierce competition is not only to retain the old customers but also to attract the new customers. The typical bank customer, however, is currently not entirely pleased with the services provided by the banks alone. This is due to the fact that every now and then, and from person to person, perception changes. Because of this shift in a customer's view of the service he receives, it becomes harder to please him at all times. Therefore, banks must constantly evaluate and reevaluate how customers perceive the services, what are the new and rising customer expectations, and how these expectations can be met consistently. The objective of the study is to find the factors which are critical to consumers based on their demographic profile in availing the retail banking services. The study also tries to delve deeper into the scenario of Indian banking industry and its evolution over the years. As the consumer perception is dependent on various criteria at a particular point of time and is also influenced by different external and internal factors, it becomes more imperative to study the psychological perception of consumers while choosing bank services. This report aims at studying the factors affecting the consumer perception for choosing a particular bank. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using different statical tools.