With the rapid development of the domestic economy, the living standard of the public keeps on rising, and the population of the rich also increases day by day. According to a survey report released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), China has 1.11 million families possessing a total property value of over USD 1 million each, ranking No. 3 in the world. The demands of consumption, investment and financing among the rich population are booming, comparatively pulling ahead, so they have become the target customer group that is fought over by many financial institutions. At present, all credit card issuers one after another have released high-end platinum credit cards for such customers, providing value-added services, including airport VIP services, golf, medical services, high value insurance, and emergency rescue, etc. However, these cards are highly homogenized.
Industrial Bank (IB), as an up and coming star in the field of platinum credit cards, has issued more than ten types of products, including the standard platinum card, travel platinum card, golf platinum card, airlines co-branded platinum card, wisdom platinum card, Shanghai Mercedes co-branded platinum card, and Taobao platinum card since IB released its first platinum credit card in October 2007. The bank exhibits a distinctive market segmentation concept and differentiated service features.
At the beginning of 2010, IB set up the “IB Joy Club”, a platform for high-end customers, drawing meaning from the ancient six classical arts for gentlemen – etiquette, music, archery, riding, writing and arithmetic. Through combining customer service and customer experience in an organic way, the club has held a variety of interactive programs in diversified forms, from fashion and red wine appreciation to golf tournaments, and from brand concessions to test drives of famous cars, bridging the gap between the bank and customers, thus improving the brand reputation and loyalty of high-end credit cards in an effective way. A range of customer experience activities launched by the “IB Joy Club” have enabled cardholders to enjoy the considerate and distinctive services of IB platinum credit cards. These activities include the Superband Mainland Farewell Concert, red wine appreciation salon, 7 For All Mankind Fair of Renowned Luxury Brands, L'OREAL Skin Carnival, “One Family Across the Straits” MasterCard Cup Golf Elite Tournament, Customized Sharing Banquet of High-end Family Travel to the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and the Mercedes Test Drive and VIP Charity Dinner, etc. Radiating across 10 large cities – Shanghai, Beijing, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Shenyang, Tianjin, Dalian, and Harbin – the golf training course salon, Macao DFS “Masterpieces of Times” Celebrity Evening Dinner and the Promotion Fair of Famous Luxuries, etc. won extensive popularity among local customers. In 2011, considering the preference and fancy of high-end customers to golf, IB specially offered many customer care programs centering on the theme of golf, such as Travel Line to Taizhou Yunhai Wetland Golf and Tomson Golf Coach Program, continuously improving the service quality of the club.
In order to ensure the quality of services provided to high-end customers, IB Credit Card Center also opens channels for ensuring the exclusive VIP service experience of high-end customers via establishing a professional service team – platinum customer hotline 4008895561 and green service channel for high-end customers. At the same time, in order to further improve and optimize the service flow of credit card services, IB released the first VIP identification system in the banking industry, thus significantly improving service acceptance quality and business handling efficiency.
The power of a brand comes from the services that win support among the customers. Rather than merely a simple financial payment and financing tool, the credit card is becoming a gold key for people to open a life of high quality. IB expresses that it will, in the future, successively release more individualized and customer-oriented products and services according to the consumption habits and development tendencies of customers, in order to meet the requirements of different customer groups.