Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank – A Complete Case Study

Updated on: May 22, 2021
Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study

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My name is Aditya Shastri and I have written this case study with the help of my students from IIDE's online digital marketing courses in India.

Practical assignments, case studies & simulations from Harvard Business Review helped the students from this course present this analysis.

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Canara Bank is one of the most reputed and trusted banks in the Indian banking industry. It is one of the largest Government of India (GOI) owned banking entities in the country. It was established in the year 1906 making it one of the oldest banks in India with more than a century of its existence. 

Now that you have a brief understanding of the bank, in this case study, we would learn more about Canara Bank with a primary focus on the marketing aspects of the bank and its digital presence. 

So let’s get into the main topic, starting with knowing about Canara bank.

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About Canara Bank

 

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - About Canara Bank

 

Canara bank was founded in 1906 in Mangalore and is currently headquartered in Bangalore, India. Canara bank is a government-owned listed entity with a market capitalization of over ₹27,740 Crores and is the fourth-largest public sector undertaking (PSU) bank in the country. 

The Bank is currently headed by Lingam Venkata Prabhakar, who is the CEO of the organization. 

It has 10,451 branches as of June 2020 spread all across India and also has a presence in foreign lands like Dubai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, and New York. On 1st April 2020, It merged with Syndicate Bank which eventually made it the fourth-largest public sector undertaking (PSU) bank in India

It also has 9 subsidiaries to its name along with 6 other joint ventures and is in the process of developing itself into a financial conglomerate. 

Canara Bank is listed on NSE and BSE.

Now that you have a fair understanding of what Canara Bank is, let’s further understand the business using the marketing mix model.

 

Marketing Mix of Canara Bank

Marketing Mix is a model that outlines a company’s business on the parameters of Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, and Physical Evidence. This model also helps in understanding the steps undertaken by the company towards its existing and potential customers.

Let us see how Canara Bank’s marketing mix framework outlines in the coming sections.

 

Product Strategy of Canara Bank

The product mix of Canara Bank includes Credit and Debit Cards.

The service mix of the bank includes the following,

Its Deposit mix consists of,

  • Saving Deposits
  • Retail Term Deposits
  • Bulk Deposits 

Its Advance mix consists of,

  • Corporate lending
  • Retail loans
  • Micro Small and Medium Enterprise loans (MSMEs)
  • Loans to Agricultural and allied sectors

Other services include,

  • Mutual Funds
  • Insurance
  • Foreign Exchange and International Banking Services
  • Demat, Depository Services
  • TUF Schemes
  • PM Jan Dhan Yojna 

These are the primary offerings of the Canara Bank to the customers which drive their entity as a whole.

 

Price Strategy of Canara Bank

The price here refers to the interest rates and other pricing which the bank is offering to its customers. 

Canara Bank has placed its pricing as per the industry standards in most of its offerings. 

  • The bank has kept the interest rates on Car Loans at 7.3% which is the lowest among its competitors. 
  • It also offers the second-lowest interest on Gold Loan at 7.65% for a tenure of 1 year just 0.15% higher than its competitor State Bank of India which offers Gold Loan at 7.50%. 

Although, Due to Covid-19 Pandemic and other factors, the company has been constantly revising its Interest rate on the offerings. 

 

Place and Distribution Strategy of Canara Bank

The place parameter refers to the place where the sales of the products or services are done. 

Canara Bank is India’s fourth-largest Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Bank.

  • It has a total of 10,451 domestic branches and around 5 international branches. 
  • It has a total of 19,840 ATM locations all around India. This shows that it has a huge distribution network. 
  • Apart from these outlets, Canara Bank also has 9,383 bank correspondents (BC). These BC points are agents that help the bank by addressing various tasks and queries in the region where the bank is not situated physically. 

The total distribution network of the bank sums up to 33,240 in total.

 

Promotion Strategy of Canara Bank

Promotion refers to the communication of marketing strategies like advertising, public relations.

Canara Bank uses both Online and Offline media vehicles. 

  • Talking about online promotions, It has a YouTube channel with over 40.2k subscribers. It is active on social media like Twitter and Facebook, and some form of content is posted once every few days
  • Mobile Marketing is used to send alerts and new launches to the customers
  • On the other side, Newspaper Advertisement is the primary medium of advertising. 
  • TV ads are done once in a while and are state-specific as India is a diverse country.
  • Radio ads are non-existent.

Canara Bank doesn’t utilize the scope of promotion to the full potential.

 

People Strategy of Canara Bank

People parameter here refers to the employees, staff, agents of the company.

Canara Bank employs about 58,982 people as of Jan 2019 and also has about 9,383 bank correspondents (BC).

  • The bank has in place a fair, transparent, and accountable corporate governance structure across its hierarchy to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders.
  • There is an effective mechanism, supported by strong policies to supervise the executive management and oversee the critical functions of the bank. 
  • There is an effective grievance redressal mechanism for customers to address their concerns.

As it is also a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Bank, the employees of the organization are treated with dignity.

 

Process Strategy of Canara Bank

Process refers to the procedures and steps involved while buying or availing a product or service. 

When it comes to the process part, Canara bank has been lacking in comparison with its Government peers like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, and Bank of Baroda. 

  • However, the banking company has been working on digital fronts to improve the customer experience. 
  • The bank had launched an app in 2019 named CANDI – The Mobile Banking App but the app is not well optimized is what the reviews show us as of 2021. 

Although if this bank is to compete with the private player of the industry then it has a long way to cover.

 

Physical Evidence Parameter of Canara Bank

As banking companies are primarily service-based, to instil trust in the minds and hearts of the customers, the aspect of physical evidence plays a key role. 

  • Canara Bank has its pan India presence with about 20,000 banking outlets and a few branches abroad as well.
  • The bank also has its own branded Credit Cards and Debit Cards.

 

These banking outlets and cards fulfill the physical evidence criteria. Now that you have understood the marketing mix model of the bank, let’s have a look at its competitors’ analysis.

 

Competitors Analysis on Canara Bank

Talking about the competitors of Canara Bank, we need to understand the current scenario of the Indian banking industry on the parameters of Banking Infrastructure, Interest Rates Offerings, and Innovations. This will help us understand where the bank stands among its competitors.

 

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - Competitor Analysis

 

Banking Infrastructure 

In the Indian Banking Industry, private banking players like HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, or ICICI Bank, are well-run and well-managed banks. 

  • They have better infrastructure both digitally and offline which provides a rich customer experience altogether
  • Whereas, in the case of the public sector undertakings (PSU) banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, or Bank of Baroda, they are yet to establish a proper framework and infrastructure digitally to match the level established by the private peers
  • Canara Bank, being a public sector undertaking, has to work on its infrastructure fronts to reach the levels set by the private players to have a healthy and fair competition

 

Interest Rates Offerings

Private players like Yes Bank, Bandhan Bank are aggressive in their offerings and they offer up to 7% interest rates on term deposits which attract more customers.

  • Whereas public sector banks have a conservative approach in issuing hefty interest rates
  • Canara Bank, as usual, being a public sector bank loses out on these competitive offerings and offers rates around 5% to 6% per annum

 

Innovations & Developments

New banks like Paytm Payments Bank and Airtel Payments Bank provide the facility to start a new Zero Minimum Balance account in just 3 days, sitting at home, on our mobile devices.

  • The public sector undertaking banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank have just started rolling out Zero Minimum Balance Savings Account from last year
  • Talking about Canara Bank, the bank has not yet announced Zero Minimum Balance Savings Account except on Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) accounts and is right now working on optimizing its banking app

Having understood where the Canara Bank stands in comparison with its competition, let’s now understand the efforts taken by the bank to promote itself in the next section.

 

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank

Canara Bank, being a customer-centric bank, has launched various marketing campaigns for the benefit of the customers. These are the following marketing campaigns of Canara Bank:

 

Tie Up with EaseMyTrip

Canara Bank has partnered with EaseMyTrip to provide discounts on Flight, Bus, and Hotel bookings. The users of Canara Bank’s debit and credit are eligible for great discounts on EaseMyTrip. This offer is valid from 1st October 2020 to 31st March 2021. 

With this strategy, the motive is to gain from the revenge spending done by people post Covid-19 induced lockdowns.

 

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - Ease My Trip

 

Special Gold Loan Campaign of Canara Bank

In May 2019, when Covid-19 had disrupted the livelihood of the people, Canara Bank had launched a new vertical for Gold loans to help the people who got affected badly. 

Given the fact that in India, Gold is a widely held commodity, this campaign was held for 2 months from 2.05.2020 to 30.06.2020 to help people leverage gold for financial liquidity during the tough times.

 

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - Special Gold Loan Campaign

 

Canara Retail Utsav – A Marketing Campaign of Canara Bank

Canara Bank launched a new marketing campaign named, Canara Retail Utsav, where it focuses on providing quick, hassle-free loans at low-interest rates. 

The target audience for this campaign are general individuals. 

 

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - Canara Retail Utsav

This campaign was run for a period of three months from October 2020 to January 2021.

A few of the notable offerings in this campaign were the lowest interest rates offerings on Car Loans given the pandemic and people preferred personal mobility and faster loan approvals.

Now that we have understood the marketing campaigns, let us look at how Canara Bank is doing on the digital fronts.

 

Digital Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank

In this section, we would go on exploring the Digital Presence of Canara Bank by going through its social media handles, an analysis of its official website and areas of improvements

Canara Bank is currently working on increasing its digital presence. Apart from having a website, it also has a presence on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The bank has been consistent in uploading content on all the above-mentioned four social media. The bank is also present on Pinterest.

 

Social Media Outlook of Canara Bank

  • On Instagram, It has a total of 14.8k followers
  • On Facebook, It has about 36k followers
  • On Youtube, It has about 40k subscribers
  • On Twitter, It has about 70k followers
  • On Pinterest, It has about 108 followers 

 

Here are the few social media posts shared by the bank,

 

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - Digital Marketing Strategy - Social Media Presence - Youtube

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - Digital Marketing Strategy - Social Media Presence - Twitter

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - Digital Marketing Strategy - Social Media Presence - Facebook

 

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - - Digital Marketing Strategy - Social Media Presence - Pinterest

 

Website Analysis of Canara Bank

The analysis of Canara Bank’s website, Canarabank.com, was done based on how much website traffic it generates and how well it is optimized for the overall user experience.

Talking about the first impression on the website, we found the website to be congested and a bit difficult to navigate through and thus reflecting on areas of improvement to be noted.

 

Website Traffic Analysis

 

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - Digital Marketing Strategy - Website Analysis

 

Given the traffic the website receives from the above data, the bank should work on improving its overall website experience to provide a better user interface to the customers. 

An inbuilt search box and a chatbot plugin on the website can provide a better user experience to its customers.

 

Search Engine Optimization Analysis

The website receives superior quality traffic. However, to generate even more traffic, effective search engine optimization and website optimization is required. 

“Seobility.net” states there is a lot of room for improvement and details for the same are given below.

 

Marketing Strategy of Canara Bank - A Case Study - Digital Marketing Strategy - SEO

 

Pain Points of Website

Talking about the pain points, the website has a lot of ways to improve. The website looks dull, there are low-quality images, difficult to navigate through sections. 

Restructuring the website can help it improve its digital presence drastically along with a chatbot and an inbuilt search plugin.

Also, during the research, we found an interesting article on Medium showcasing the pain points on Canara Bank’s website with regards to the user experience (UX). This article showcases the problems and solutions of the same in very simplified terms.

With this, the case study on Canara Bank comes to an end, let us summarize this study in the coming section.

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Conclusion

Canara Bank is one of the highly reputed banks in India. It has a strong offline presence all over India but it can improve a lot digitally. Using digital marketing to its maximum potential can do wonders for the bank. Its PSU peers especially Punjab National Bank and Bank Of Baroda can be outplayed as they are lacking on the digital fronts as well.

However, only time will tell what awaits in the future. With this, our study on Canara Bank comes to an end.

Liked our work? Interested in learning more about Digital Marketing? Check out our Free Digital Marketing Masterclass by Karan Shah.

If you have any thoughts on Canara Bank, please let us know in the comments below. Also, If you like our work then please do share this article!

(All the figures stated above are as of February 2021)

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Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs......[Read full bio]

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