HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan And Implementation Strategy

Question

Task: Provide a short note on the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan.

Answer

Executive Summary
In the earlier, years it was a general notion that the process of marketing was considered to be a secondary function of an institute. By the invention of globalization, the scope and reach of different organizations reached a different level and it was on the global platform that the institutes and the major players had understood the significance of effective marketing. In the present world, it is the discipline of marketing that possess maximum significance in the corporate world. No organization could sustain itself in the global environment without a good marketing plan. The institutes in the earlier times had always made the priority to the process of transactional marketing. With new advancements in the global market and new researches, the institutes in the new global world give their primary importance to relationship marketing. Now the various streams of industries whether they are working on a global basis or domestic basis, have understood the significance and impact of the marketing process. The financial industry has recorded a very boosted and exponential rate of growth after the invention of most modern inventions in science and technologies. Depreciating the significance of the paper or hard currency, the credit card had gained a high prevalence among the population, since it is tech-friendly and highly convenient. The new invention of the credit cards has created, a high range of competition among the financial companies. Hence the companies on a global basis should understand the scope of credit cards and make their companies tech-friendly to cope with the new technological pace.

This report majorly deals with the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan adopted in the country of Australia. It has been evaluated that the element of Product along with the marketing mix of the credit cards had played a key role in drafting an efficient strategy for implementing the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan. The major role of the person who works as the marketing executive is to synchronize or bring in align both the expectation of customers from manufacturers and that of manufacturers from the customers. He would have to work effectively to reduce the perspective gap between the manufacturer and the customer. The major components of the marketing plan are Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning. In this report on HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan, the analysis of the crucial sections which should be targeted by the company for further growth with relevance to the technology of the credit cards is conducted. Hence, drafting an effective marketing plan is done by keeping in mind some marketing targets and financial budget set forward by the company management. By utilizing the marketing plan provided in this report on HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan, the company could effectively and crucial steps in the financial market of Australia. The previous step would be a major stepping stone in the development of an impeccable marketing plan.

Introduction
The scheme of HSBC credit cards was formulated by the financial institute of HSBC Finance Corporation. Before entering into the detailed analysis, it should be understood that the credit cards of HSBC are not limited in the domestic boundary of Australia and hence is used in a large number of countries. The use of HSBC credit cards was well traced in developed countries like the USA and Australia. The company has also shown its good presence in developing countries like India. By the advent of globalization, it the global financial market which was affected the most. The financial sector had witnessed a lot of entrants and now there is fierce competition in the market. The introduction of modern technologies like credit cards has attracted a lot of customers on a global basis towards banking services since the use of credit cards has brought a lot of convenience and lending power to the customers. The strong and immense outflow of credit has also boosted the other sectors in the global market. Although the issuance of the credit is not provided to all the customers by the financial institutes since it poses some grieve danger to the future sustenance of the industry. Hence it should be understood that the issuance of the credit cards is not an easy piece of cake for the financial institutes (Towill, 2009). Any financial institute which ahs planned to issue the credit cards should create a better plan for segmentation and targeting. In the context of a global financial company like HSBC, the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan should consist of a very innovative and effective media of communication. It should also be considered while drafting the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan that the cost of altering the vendor should be minimum and while the scheme of credit cards by the company is advertised, all its properties and terms and conditions should be made clear to the public. The public should be convinced of why they should select the service of credit card and what are the benefits of selecting the service. Since there are a lot of credit card facility providers in the financial market, the company should come up with some attractive schemes so that the customers find it more relevant. Only a lucrative and attractive approach towards the customers would help the company to sustain in the fierce market of finance.

While thinking of HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan, the company board should provide the various features and characteristics of the scheme more prominence, since they are to be displayed in front of the customers. Though it should also be noted that the whole effort should not be given on just defining the attributes of the product, the marketing section also needs a significant amount of focus from the officials. A prospective of personal selling could also be included in the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan. The success of the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan would depend on the number of people who would opt to have the service of credit card from the HSBC financial institute. The HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan drafted by the board members of the company should focus more on the various components of the marketing, its development, and modes of customer handling and relationship. The main aim of drafting this plan is to make it certain that the introduction of the HSBC credit cards in the domestic market of the company should be a huge success.

Objective, Mission and Vision
Whatever institution it is, irrespective of its operating market and product, there should be a precise objective, mission, and vision. While drafting the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan, the management team should keep in mind the pre-determined mission, vision, and objective. Below are elaborately provided all the aspects of the vision, mission, and objectives of the HSBC company.

Mission
The ultimate mission of the HSBC company is to evolve itself into the best credit card company in the domestic financial market of Australia both in the volume of money supplied and several customers.

Hence the mission statement of the HSBC company could be stated as materializing itself into a major player in the financial market of Australia.

Vision
Aiding the subscribers in attaining their dreams.

Although the vision statement of the HSBC company seems to be very succinct, it embodies a significant ideology in it. The vision statement of the company reveals that it aims to provide its customers with more purchasing power.

Objective
Below are elaborately listed down the major objectives of the HSBC company.

• The company lays down the issue of customer satisfaction at the top of its preference list. The subscribers of the company’s products should be provided with expert assistance 24X7 and they should also be made accessible to a very hospitable and efficient customer care executive panel.
• Beat the opponents in the financial market by penetrating very far and efficiently into the domestic economy if Australia.
• Provide a major focus on the default rate. The major aim of the HSBC institute should be to keep the default rate to its minimum.
• Acquire the statistical target of an overall total of 40% credit card users in Australia and thus bring sown other competitors operating in the same market.

Macro Environment
The aspect of the economy of a country that has a broader aspect rather than a constricted focus on a certain could be termed as Macroeconomics. The factors or the components involved in the macroeconomics have its significance to the national level and hence covers a large area and have a wide scope. The networks of financial instate play a very crucial role in the money flow and other components of the macro environment. Hence a credit card service providing companies like HSBC should study the macro environment of the company in which it is trying to operate (Lee, 2009). The major analysis and studies like the industrial performance analysis, and overall state of the market in Australia should be conducted to understand the unexpected risks and hidden opportunities in the economy. Below are discussed to make an elaborate study of the market dynamics and macro analysis of the Australian economy.

Economic Growth

The management team of the HSBC should focus on the major factors of the macroeconomics like economic growth. This would help the company in analyzing how the environment of the country is progressing. The economic history of Australia portrays that the nation has displayed very decent progress in the matter of development. This economic growth has increased the per capita income of the population and hence the conditions are very favorable for the companies who would introduce credit cards. The unpredictable graph of the economic progress makes it evident that there could be a rapid change at any time and hence the business also faces some serious risks. Before investing in their business, the HSBC financial company should monitor and observe the course of the domestic economy of Australia at least for a year. While the world was jerked by the global recession in 2008, the economy of Australia was one of the most affected ones. Though it is also a positive aspect that the domestic market of Australia is not as volatile as those of the United States of America. Thus, investing in the economy of Australia could be considered a safer option. In the overall aspect, it could be estimated that starting a credit card providing agency in the domestic market is a very good idea and hence the financial companies like HSBC could reap the most out of this opportunity.

The total and actual income of the citizens of a certain company would depend on the inflation rate prevailing in the economy of that country. The higher rate of inflation would signify that the actual income of the intended group of customers is very low and hence it would be very hard and irrelevant for the company to bring them under the customer gamut. As per the Australian survey department, inflation in the economy of Australia is fairly under the control. As declared by the financial ministry of the country, inflation only reaches to around 2%. It would not be a very hostile or demotivating condition for the investors if the inflation is fairly under the control of the government. If considered the period of depression, the inflation of Australia was very worse in the period from 2008 to 2010 (Martin, 2010). Since it was the financial incident that happened ten years ago, HSBC could perceive the present level of inflation, 2% as a very positive sign and hence could move on with drafting the efficient HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan. For a detailed analysis of the inflation level in the country, we have provided the trend graph of 16 years in the above section of this report.

Interest Rates

The normal rate of interest in the country would exclusively affect the saving capacity of the citizens and hence consequentially affecting the purchasing power of the customers. Hence the customers could not put aside money to invest in other services if the interest rates are very high (Sarkis, 2005). Various governments that have ruled the country of Australia over decades have focused majorly on maintaining a stabilized condition in between the level of lending rates and saving. From the provided graph of the interest rates in the country of Australia, you could estimate the conditions are very favorable for the HSBC credit card company since the population is provided with the optimum condition for savings.

Only if the country’s employment is higher, then the credit card companies like HSBC could sustain there. The presence of high employment rate makes the developed countries like United states of America and Australia very attractive for the credit card service providing companies. If looked at the above graph of employment in Australia it could be observed that the unemployment rate was only to the level of 6.1% in the financial year of 2014. Since this is a very impressive statistical record, the HSBC could move on with the credit card business in the economy of Australia.

Target Market Description
While drafting the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan, the management board should consider the processes of Segmentation and targeting. To effectively carry out the financial business the board should focus more on the segmented market of Australia. The targeted market should be customized by using demographic and economic factors like income, age, sex, etc. In the context of HSBC, economic factors bear more significance (Scherhorn, 2010). While issuing the credit card, the company should consider the actual income of the customer.

It would be very effective if the HSBC Credit card if they select the customers with the age group from 20 to 60 years who are employed. There should be no discrimination by considering the basis of marital status. The most important basis for selecting a targeted population would be the parameter of employment. If this parameter would be followed, the company would avoid the risk of unreturned debts that has the potential to risk even the sustenance of the company. For this purpose, the company should target the population that is indulged more in government services and business. As an additional precaution, the company should also check the financial background of the customer before the issuance of the customized credit card. By considering the background of the customer, the bank should also consider the spouses of the earning people. As a policy for ignoring the bad debt, the company should avoid the unemployed people from the customer list in a very strict manner.

It should be taken into account by the board members of the company while preparing the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan, that the selection of the targeted market is not as easy as it seems to be. The HSBC company should conduct a very detailed and exclusive analysis of both the internal and external factors of the economy. Any customer who wants to attain success in the respective business should understand the requirements of the customer in a very thorough manner.

From the context provided above, it could be understood that the HSBC requires the target market which would use proficiently the credit cards for their daily life shopping. It would be based on the pace of market development that the HSBC could penetrate the domestic financial market of Australia. The market of Australia is very mature and shows less dip in its progress and hence it proves to be one of the best developing ground for the HSBC company. It is very crucial that a study of the external factors should be understood before making a rush for investing in the economy. Not limiting to this, the economy of Australia prefers more to just transact in a digital medium rather than just dealing with hard money (Aksoy, 2008). The HSBC company should consider that the credit cards are already introduced in Australia and most of the companies have covered a large portion of the market. This indicates that the new entrants in the market would have to face a lot of fierce competition. Only by manipulating the targeted market the company could gain any customers in the country. Hence the analysis of the components in the external market is crucial for understanding the trend followed by the targeted population. The use of the PESTEL tool would be very efficient in estimating the external conditions of the market. The customers could only be attracted by including the intriguing and attractive characteristics to the service. It would be according to the analysis conducted on the competitors and industries that the process of segmentation, targeting, and positioning could be done in the process of the HSBC Credit card Marketing Plan. An additional set of analyses like the status of other major competitors to draft an efficient HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan. The trends made by its major competitors would make the process of HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan drafting very simple.

Marketing Segment Table
Different segments and components of the credit card facility provided by the HSBC could be understood by the Marketing Segment Table provided in the below section of this report on the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan. Let us have a detailed look at it.

Competitive Analysis
As per the context provided in the above section of this HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan, it is very clear that the domestic financial market of Australia is very fierce and only an innovative approach would help the HSBC company in penetrating the relevant market. The domestic market of Australia is full of influencing powers and hence the management should take into account various factors before marking their entry into the market. The service and other products of HSBC should be very innovative and unique so that it would coerce the customers of other companies to opt for the HSBC’s service. In contrast to other company's services, the product of HSBC should be appealing from a customer (Majumdar, 2010). The statistical data of other major competitors would aid the officials of HSBC in drafting an impeccable HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan by which the penetration into the market could be done effectively. For a better understanding of the competitive scenario, a competitive audit chart regarding the HSBC Credit card is provided n the below section. Let us have a better look at it.

Competitive Audit Chart

SWOT Analysis
To draft a good HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan, it would be crucial to conduct a SWOT analysis since it would reveal a lot of hidden facts regarding the operating market and the surrounding environment. Both the conception regarding the factors related to internal and external besieging aspects of the company would be revealed using the test of SWOT. Below is provided a detailed SWOT analysis of the HSBC company. Let us have a thorough look at it.

Marketing Objectives
When a company tries to penetrate an unknown environment, it becomes very crucial for them to draft a HSBC credit card Marketing Plan. The drafting of the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan without analyzing the objective to be followed in the market would be like driving a vehicle without knowing its modus operandi. Below are discussed most three crucial objectives to be followed by the HSBC credit card company in Australia.

• M1: The primary target of the company should be to attain a market share of around 10% when one annual financial year ends. And hence after increasing the market share of the company to around 25% by the end 3 financial years.
• M2: The secondary aim of the company would be to penetrate the domestic environment of Australia. The extension target for the company would be to attain a rate of 20% in the time span of two and 16 years or five initial quarters.
• M3: The tertiary target of the market would not be to exclusively attain the profit margin. Although the company would be trying to attain the overall profit rate of 12%.

Marketing Strategy
The basic concept of HSBC credit card Marketing Plan strategy is based on the ideology of 4Ps in the discipline of management. The four components involved in the concept of 4 Ps are Promotion, Product, Place, and Price. Only by considering the above given four parameters that the major HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan is drafted. We have discussed the marketing mix to be followed by the HSBC company in the domestic financial market of Australia.

Product
In a market mix, the most priority is given to the factor of the product since it is the factor that would make the first impact on the customers. If the service is worth its value then customers of then the customers of Australia would opt for it. The product delivered by the major competitors should be reviewed and it should be analyzed that why the certain product has gained so much acceptance and familiarity among the customers (Evans, 2012). This approach is considered to be the external one in the discipline of strategic management. The management team of the HSBC company is strongly advised to take this approach since the domestic financial market of Australia is already evolved and far mature.

Price
It is the factor of the price which turns out to be very crucial of vital points in the market of credit card services. The HSBC has to adopt the role of a price taker rather than being a price maker since the company is comprised of a higher degree of competition. The pricing of the products by the HSBC credit card company should only be decided after analyzing the pricing list of the major competitors (Cooper, 2007).

Place
The customers of the company should access the facility of the company irrespective of their geographical residence. If the service is not available in their geographical position, then it would be very hard for the company to canvas the customers to opt for their services (Croxson, 2006). The outlet of the branches of the HSBC should be available since the customers should not find it hard to avail of the service of the company.

Promotion
In the field of the marketing mix, the factor of promotion could never be denied. The importance of promotion and advertisement have been increased in the stage of the global market. By using the platform of social networking sites, the company should start a very large promotion campaign.

Marketing Mix Strategy Implementation Chart

Testing the marketing mix strategy
It is by considering the marketing objective that the HSBC credit card Marketing Plan outlined. The marketing objectives should always be kept under scrutiny by the management team. We have discussed below marketing mix evaluation chart for HSBC.

Marketing Mix Evaluation Chart

Budget
The company board should take into account that the budget put aside for the marketing purpose should be high. Since it is the inception of the company HSBC needs to invest much more in the HSBC credit card Marketing Plan campaign.

Regulating and Supervising
The crucial components of a HSBC credit card Marketing Plan plan comprised of the factors of regulation and supervision. For the efficient and lucid functioning of the business, an approach of effective control should be taken from the behalf of company management. This would ensure that the strategies implemented by the management team are providing the desired result. The process of regulation and supervision should be under the shared accountability of the stakeholders. Although the inception and implementation of the regulation and supervision should start from the higher officials of the company. Only if the process of regulation and supervision is done under moderation and utmost effectiveness the processes in the company would go in harmony.

Conclusion
The report provided above on the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan has effectively elucidated the scope and marketing objective of the business. As per the detailed analysis conducted under this report, it has been made clear that the present domestic financial market in Australia is well developed and evolved. Though the market poses a great stage for the new entrants and thus could turn out to be a very potential market for the credit card service providing companies like HSBC. This indicates that the domestic financial market of Australia is not as saturated as the market observers think. Hence the environment in the country still could be considered as supportive and cognizable for the HSBC company. The HSBC credit card marketing plan and objectives comprised in it should be drafted in harmony with various dynamic factors in the market and the observations attained through the in-depth analysis of the industry.In the starting stage of the company, the main aim would be to increase the accessibility and reach of the product by penetrating the domestic financial market of Australia. To attain this, the company should intensify its HSBC credit card Marketing Plan and promotional campaign and enlarge its customer base. It is only after establishing a reliable and trustworthy customer base that a company should move on with making strategies to gain profit. No extreme steps should be taken in the initial stage of the company since the financial market of Australia is very volatile and could pose various perils to the business in an unexpected manner. If applied a relevant and efficient market plan, the company could attain its place and specified market in the economy. Although the company is required to invest a lot of money in the initial phase, it could attain a large group of customers with the help of implying a very innovative and efficient HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan. It should be noted that by the implementation of the HSBC Credit Card Marketing Plan in the economy of Australia, the company could only reap benefits on a long-term basis. HSBC credit card marketing plan assignments are being prepared by our marketing assignment help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable assignment help online service.

Reference List
Atilgan, E., Akinci, S., & Aksoy, P. (2008). Measuring and mapping customers expectations and perceptions for airlines: the Sunexpress case with the gaps model. Journal of Global Strategic Management, 3, 68-78.

Christopher, M., & Towill, D. R. (2009). Supply chain migration from lean and functional to agile and customized. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 5(4), 206-213.

Evans, D. (2012). Social media marketing: An hour a day. Wiley. com.Von Bergen, C.W., T.

Hervani, A. A., Helms, M. M., & Sarkis, J. (2005). Performance measurement for the green supply chain management. Benchmarking: An International Journal,12(4), 330-353.

Hiebing, R. G., & Cooper, S. W. (2007). How to write a successful HSBC credit card Marketing Plan plan. NTC Business Books.

Kloot, L., & Martin, J. (2010). Strategic performance management: A balanced approach to performance management issues in local government. Management Accounting Research, 11(2), 231-251.

Kotler, P. (2011). Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. Journal of Marketing, 75(4), 132-135.

Krishnan, R. T., & Jha, S. K. (2011). Innovation strategies in emerging markets: what can we learn from Indian market leaders. ASCI Journal of Management,41(1), 21-45.

Lee, H. L. (2009). Aligning Supply Chain Strategies with Product Uncertainties.California management review, 44(3).

Majumdar, R. (2010). Consumer behaviour: Insights from Indian market. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..

Mawer, William., (2005). The U.S. FairPay Overtime Initiative. Managerial Law, Vol. 47 Iss: 3/4, pp.219 – 231

Padma, T. V. (2011). Action urged on foreign takeovers of Indian drugmakers.Nature Medicine, 17(2), 141.

Pickton, D., & Broderick, A. (2001). Integrated marketing communications. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

Scherhorn, G. (2010). The addictive trait in buying behaviour. Journal of Consumer Policy, 13(1), 33-51.

Selladurai, R. S. (2004). Mass customization in operations management: oxymoron or reality?. Omega, 32(4), 295-300.

Vonderheid, S. C., Carrie, S. K., Norr, K. F., Grady, M. A., & Westdahl, C. M. (2013). Using Focus Groups and Social Marketing to Strengthen Promotion of Group Prenatal Care. Advances in Nursing Science, 36(4), 320-335.

Wilson, D., Croxson, B., & Atkinson, A. (2006). “What Gets Measured Gets Done” Headteachers’ responses to the English Secondary School Performance Management System 1 According to Belh (2003, p. 599),“what gets measured done” is perhaps the most famous aphorism of performance measurement. Policy Studies, 27(2), 153-171.