Online banking on the march: coronavirus is changing our habits

Restrictions caused by coronavirus changed our habits within a few days. Shopping habits are not an exception. Thousands of stores have been closed, and those that remain have less customers than ever before, as they prefer to stay at home. A large part of the transactions followed the consumers – and how did the Fintech industry react to this change?

Credit cards become obsolete?

In the first weeks after the restrictions caused by the coronavirus were introduced,we could easily notice significantly smaller numbers of customers in stores – at least in those that remained open despite the restrictions. In many cases, branches had to be closed: this was the case in the clothing, catering and sports industry. Such drastic changes can also be seen in our shopping habits.

At the beginning of April, Bank Millennium and PKO BP published the data on transactions made with payment cards. Their reports confirm a significant drop in the number of credit card payments. In both cases, the conclusions are the same: many industries experienced nearly 90% decrease in the sales. Such large losses affected hotels, restaurants and clothing stores, as well as many other businesses. Travel agencies also do not expect the situation to improve and they are currently experience huge declines. Interestingly, this change occurred in less than seven days: according to PKO BP, between 7 and 15 March, the sharp drop in these industries reached as much as 80% and is getting worse with every passing day.

The data clearly show that customers are now reluctant to spend their money and that their payment cards are currently not in use. This is also confirmed by the forecasts of mBank economists, who predict a further 18% drop in consumption in April and May. However, there are some parts of the financial sector that are still on the rise – even though it seems improbable in the light of recent events.

All hope in the Internet

Majority of customers prefers to stay home right now – and this trend can be seen in their transactions. Revolut Money Report study confirms this rapid change, as the company experienced a 36% decrease in the number of credit card payments. For online transactions, the drop was significantly smaller, reaching only 11%. However, it is worth mentioning that those changes did not affect all industries – because there are still services that even in today’s crisis can be proud of their growths.

The gaming industry has been winning it all in the last few weeks, as it has seen enormous growth in sales. Steam platform doubled the number of transactions last month and its main competitor, PlayStation, recorded a 89% increase in sales. Streaming services and television companies are also victorious. TVN noted 75% more transactions, while HBO, Spotify and Netflix gained 20% more new subscribers.

Ordering food from the internet also became increasingly popular. Glovo application offering different types of deliveries has received 122% more orders since the beginning of the pandemic, with the value of each transaction increasing by over 140%. The food supply is also dominated by Volt and Uber – their increases reached 50%. They also made their offer more diverse, because many restaurants started to offer take-out food due to recently announced restrictions.

Services are already online – and banking will follow

Such a rapid and unprecedented change in consumer preferences had great impact on the financial industry. Customers are still looking for new banking solutions because a majority of them must switch to online payments. On the other hand, financial institutions themselves started to struggle, as they cannot provide their services using physical facilities that were closed due to lockdown. However, this problem can also be easily solved using the internet.

LiveBank was created to provide online services to bank customers – and it is a perfect tool for all financial institutions. It allows the customers to communicate with an agent via chat, voice call or video call. This allows remote work for bank employees, as well as swift and safe delivery of financial services even when the branches are closed.

LiveBank is also one of the first platforms with built-in support for a bank’s sales and operational processes and the possibility of problem-free handling of many issues during a single video session. This technology can be fully integrated with banking systems and it allows maintaining the continuity of the bank’s processes even when its offline operations are limited. In addition, LiveBank is available in all popular browsers and their mobile versions, making it easy to use from anywhere in the world.

Equally important, you don’t have to wait long for the first results of our cooperation. LiveBank can be implemented in just a few days, which allows you to quickly respond to rapid changes in the world. This solution also allows you to easily adapt to any unexpected events, what makes maintaining business continuity easier than ever before.

New baking services appreciated by customers

The implementation of new solutions during the crisis allows not only to keep existing customers, but also to attract new ones. This is possible thanks to the additional services that banks can offer online. The results may surprise you: according to the recent data provided by Revolut platform, in recent weeks this service has doubled the value of currency exchange due to customer interest in new funds. This is a great example of the fact that the variety of services offered over the internet can also be beneficial in times of crisis.

Sources:

Ailleron

Ailleron Marketing team includes digital marketers and content creators who provide insights and expertise from across the organization, including #AilleronExperts. For media queries, please get in touch with us via our contact form.

Share on social media

AI banking – artificial intelligence in banking and finance

Show all insights

You may be also interested in: