Omnichannel Customer Behavior in Retail Banking

Like retailers, banks are increasingly becoming omnichannel, providing products and services across brick-and-mortar (branches) and digital channels to their customers. Since banking products and services do not have physical attributes and can be completely defined digitally, one would assume that transition to digital channels would be relatively easier as opposed to retail where touch and feel are important aspects of decision-making. However, the omnichannel strategy for banks is complex as banking is a relationship-based industry, and many tacit features influence the customer behavior in this context. This leads to stark differences between consumer behaviors in e-commerce versus banking. In a series of three studies, we present how omnichannel banking is different or similar to omnichannel retail, focusing on cross-channel interactions, changes in customer behavior, and the changing demographics of customers ushered with the introduction of omnichannel banking.