The emergence of the marketing mix in the banking sector

Abstract

This article explains the emergence of the marketing mix in the banking sector and the specificity of this field. Research has shown that the evolution of the marketing mix in banking is closely related to the evolution of the marketing mix for services. The modern approach of the marketing mix for services comes from Booms and Bitner, in 1981. They filled the traditional 4Ps of the marketing mix (coming from products): price, product, placement (distribution), and promotion with specific intangible service components: personnel, presence (physical evidence), and process. For the banking sector, the development of those three components nowadays represents the main challenge because they represent the most important way to differentiate from the competition and to deliver superior services to customers who are more sophisticated and demanding.