Degree
Master of Business Administration
Faculty / School
Faculty of Business Administration (FBA)
Advisor
Dr. Kamran Siddiqui
Project Coordinator (Internal)
Asad Ilyas
Client
United Bank Limited
Committee Member 1
Dr. Kamran Siddiqui, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi
Project Type
MBA Research Project
Keywords
https://ir.iba.edu.pk/do/search/?q=UBL&start=0&context=8598587&facet=">UBL, Foreign exchange fluctuations, Perception survey, Focus group
Abstract / Summary
The major objective of this project is to appraise the situation and prepare recommendations for the pre-launch activities of the UBL Prepaid Foreign Currency (FCY) Debit Card, offered with transactions in four foreign currencies (i.e. USD, Euros, Saudi Riyal, and GBP). The unique selling proposition of this product is the protection against Foreign Exchange fluctuations / conversion charges. The pre-launch activities for this card comprises the design of the product, defining the processes and operating procedures for card issuance, the pricing strategy, distribution strategy, the media plan, and the segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategy of the product. As per the information gathered from the market and UBL marketing team this product is the first of its kind in Pakistan and no other bank offers the Prepaid FCY card. In order to understand further market dynamics several investigative tools were used i.e. Perception Survey and Focus Groups. The objective of the research was to measure the awareness and perceptions towards foreign currency debit card. A minor but related objective was to study the product need and preferences of the target market regarding FCY card, amount they are willing to spend for this product, preferences of the foreign currencies, and preferences for the price ranges. A sample of 360 respondents was selected from all target market segments based on judgment and expert opinion. The major market clusters studied include students studying aboard, students remitting money aboard as their examination fees, frequent travelers, money changers, hajj / Umrah zaireen, online shoppers and others. The findings of the survey revealed that there is a huge gap in the market and a prepaid FCY card is the need of the time, since there is no other such product. Also the findings revealed that the most popular currency for this product is US Dollar, and Saudi Riyal. Regarding the uses of the product, survey results revealed that it would be used predominantly for online shopping, foreign travel, studying abroad and business requirements. The data was analyzed using multiple statistical techniques using SPSS. Firstly, the frequency distribution tables were produced and interpreted. Secondly questions were cross-tabulated along the six population characteristics i.e. Age, Gender, Education level, Cities, Marital Status and income level. Finally, recommendations were prepared based on analysis relating to product, it’s pricing, distribution, media plan and the segmentation and positioning strategy. Towards the end, some recommendations have been made to the client about the segmentation, target market and positioning strategy of the UBL FCY VISA Debit Card that has been deemed as ideal based in the research findings. In these recommendations, UBL has been advised to split the product’s target markets into primary and secondary niches. The primary target niche has been described as frequent travellers and businessmen. However, in the secondary niche are included such customers as Online shoppers, students for O or A-Levels as well as family members of the Pakistani students studying abroad. The report then proceeds to recommend the various service processes for the product that serve as its infra-structure. These are basically referred to as activity maps. These maps have been developed for front end, back end as well as complaint resolution processes. This report also includes a brief recommendation for some Below-the-Line activities that the bank might be able to conduct complete with the budgets estimates so that other than the Above-the-Line campaign which will most probably be run by the agency of UBL, the bank has a focused set of promotional activities in store to connect to the target market of the UBL FCY VISA Debit Card.
Recommended Citation
Asad, S., Satti, S. I., Shahid, A. M., Rafique, S., & Lakho, P. A. (2011). Assisting with the Pre-launch campaign of UBL foreign currency prepaid visa card (Unpublished graduate research project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/research-projects-mba/168
