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2025-03-17 22:30:00| Fast Company

The financial services industry is facing an era of unparalleled fragmentation. Consumers are no longer limited to a single bank or financial provider in an increasingly nomadic digital environment. Instead, consumers can move seamlessly between services and products across multiple platforms. This creates a highly competitive marketplace while still maintaining some degree of segmentation. As fintech disruptors and traditional financial institutions compete for consumers, creating brand differentiation and customer loyalty has become one of the hardest and most critical aspects of growing a business. Adding to this challenge, banks and financial service providers face an environment of unprecedented consumer choice. In the 2024 banking outlook, Deloitte cautions the industry that retail customers are spoiled for choice, and it has become easier for them to switch accounts and diversify deposits across multiple platforms. However, solutions are emerging that can break down the barriers between financial institutions and allow consumers to access a bundle of value-added features and capabilities alongside traditional financial productsall in one place.  Lessons from travel and e-commerce industries The financial system is undergoing a seismic shift akin to the transformation that occurred over the past several decades in the travel industry, where consumers now prefer one-stop marketplaces like Kayak or Expedia for their travel needs. Closed loop ecosystems (e.g. I get my banking, personal loan, insurance, mortgage and brokerage all from one bank) are now being challenged by a la carte open systems where products are becoming provider agnostic and more goals oriented. Consumers are often asking, what is the optimal basket of financial products for me today? E-commerce giants like Amazon continue to illustrate changing consumer behavior by providing a range of add-on services, from groceries to online medical consultations. Like the travel sites, customers can do all this on Amazon itself, not separately going to the individual companies and services. Because of todays e-commerce and travel platform experiences, customers are accustomed to one-stop shoppingits become an expectation, not just a want. However, shopping for financial services has always lagged behind the other vertical industries. This has produced a drive to create financial ecosystems with a seamless, holistic shopping and checkout experience. A broad spectrum of companies can come together to offer financial services and products personalized for each consumer, offered in one centralized marketplace. For consumers, this means greater convenience and tailored products and financial solutions without needing to navigate multiple platforms. For financial institutions and service providers, this offers a chance to showcase their products and services to a wider audience, creating loyalty and trust while reducing the cost of customer acquisition. Data and AI can further fuel personalization Data analytics can be a powerful tool in revealing consumer behaviors and demands. Right now, consumers are demanding executable and tailored options, but in a simplified way (as in, a ready to checkout way). The emergence of low-latency deployable AI models in digital interfaces now allows the industry to customize offer deliveries right from the source of truth (e.g. a bank or financial institutions offer catalog) quickly and seamlessly. Again, insights and observed consumer behaviors from the travel industry are instructive in setting the next stage of financial services. An Expedia survey found that 50% of respondents were interested in using generative AI to plan their next trip in 2024. In addition, nearly 40% of travelers said they would use AI to find the perfect stay. Consumers are beginning to trust AI to make informed decisions at a time when the traditional, fragmented financial system is losing trust and loyalty. By using AI tools to provide additional financial options faster and more seamlessly, the industry can rebuild trust and loyalty with customers. Consumers tend to trust when they are given options, rather than being told what to do, and offered little choice. That consumer demand is as equally true when shopping for a hotel as it is when shopping for a savings account. They want to see the full picture rather than one product or service. To achieve this, a more unified ecosystem of financial service providers is needed, built with the help of AI tools, so consumers do not have to dig to find the right options in a fragmented landscape. A critical juncture The financial services industry faces a critical juncture where customer loyalty is being heavily tested by competitive offers and a fragmented digital environment. However, by leveraging AI and data, this challenge will be turned into an opportunity. Just as the travel industry has evolved to meet consumer demands through comprehensive platforms, the financial sector must embrace technology innovation and collaboration to offer one holistic, user-friendly experience. The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more.


Category: E-Commerce

 

LATEST NEWS

2025-03-17 21:10:00| Fast Company

What was perhaps the least timely book tour in American history has been postponed. Fresh from his Friday vote for a funding bill that much of the Democratic base objected to, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was set to embark on a tour this week for his latest tome. But its hard to execute a successful book event, let alone a string of them, when fired-up protesters are shouting down the authors every breath. Over the past few days, that outcome looked increasingly inevitable.  Postponing the tour may have seemed like the only way Schumer could save face. It wont do anything to defer his reckoning online, however, especially on Bluesky, where the senator has sunk to previously unimagined lows of unpopularity. The left-leaning alternative to X had been seething with anger the past couple months, mostly directed at omnipresent targets Donald Trump and Elon Musk. At the same time, the social media site also carried an ambient current of rage aimed at Democrats for not mounting an effective opposition to Trumps administration.  Generally, that rage has seemed kind of amorphous: not bound too much to any particular ball the Dems dropped, but rather a desire to see meaningful action of any kind. Last weeks funding bill vote presented an opportunity for critics to more sharply target their disapproval. Swallowing the poison pill To recap: Republicans excluded their Democratic colleagues from negotiations on a spending bill to avert a government shutdown, offering them a bill littered with insulting provisions, like the one that would make it impossible for Congress to undo Trumps haphazard tariffs. It was a poison pill for Dems to swallow, suffused with the not-even-implicit threat to blame them for the resulting shutdown if they refused (despite the fact that Republicans currently control all three branches of government and polling suggests they would shoulder the blame).  While House Democrats were ready to call the GOPs bluff, and Senate Democrats hinted that they would do the same, Schumer ultimately capitulated, swallowing the poison pill. On the right, his move was greeted with crocodile-smile congrats from Trump and outright mockery from the House Judiciary. On the left, the response was far more venomous.  Schumer had finally assumed ownership of the general anger toward Democrats that had been roiling online for months, redirecting it toward himself. While there has been plenty of cathartic venting and activist organizing around Schumer on Bluesky, many of the sites users have also been channeling their fury into savage memes. Some pop culture-themed digs at Schumer place him alternately in the worlds of Die Hard, Star Wars, and Liam Neesons avenging dad series, Taken.  [if Chuck Schumer replaced Liam Neeson in Taken]CHUCK SCHUMER: [on phone] I dont know who you are or what you want, but I will find you and I will help you kill my daughter— born miserable (@bornmiserable.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T02:36:35.850Z One popular post begged the music industrys most merciless antagonist, Kendrick Lamar, to turn his attention to Schumer, while another likened the Senate minority leader to Lamars utterly annihilated bte noire, Drake. Other posters on Bluesky played with Schumers name in every conceivable insulting permutation. If it rhymes with Chuck and is unflattering, people posted it in droves. The fact that the Senators last name can be easily slotted into the cross-generational insult ok boomer did not escape users notice either. And a surprisingly large number of others opted instead for calling him Charles Entertainment Schumer, the official full name of childrens pizza restaurant mascot Chuck E. Cheesewho, incidentally, is a rodent. Senator Schumer on the Galactic Empire: we will allow them to blow up planets for now in the event this makes them unpopular and then maybe we can get some of their support to stop blowing up planets— Tyler, from the Internet (@tylerjameshill.com) 2025-03-14T00:20:38.544Z “So I have a book coming out” A lot of the Bluesky hostility prior to Mondays cancellation announcement had focused on Schumers planned book tour. One viral tweet depicted Schumer as the fire-engulfed This Is Fine dog, a symbol of ill-timed complacency during Trumps turbulent first term, with the titular phrase changed to So I have a book coming out.  Even before Fridays vote, the idea of such a high-profile member of the opposition party spending valuable time promoting a book during such an incendiary moment in American history rubbed some observers the wrong way. After the vote? It was more like a massage parlor run by Edward Scissorhands. With activists circulating Schumers tour itinerary on Bluesky, clearly not for autograph-obtaining purposes, the senators team cited security reasons for calling off the tour, according to the New York Times. The breadth of jokes, memes, and straightforward invective have made Schumer inescapable on Bluesky, leaving room for reflexive jokes about his newfound main character status. At a moment when Democrats favorability levels have reached record lows, Schumers favorability on Bluesky seemed leagues lower. As much as all the posts about him represent the simmering outrage and hopelessness shared by many of the sites users, they may also offer a refreshing change of pace from the constant focus on President Trump and Elon Muskwho seemingly set out to make themselves the main character every day on purpose. Whats unusual, though, is not just the saturation-level of Schumerposting, but the range of political ideology it encompasses. For as many publications portray Bluesky as a lefty echo chamber for people who fled X because they cant handle opposing views, Bluesky tends to be teeming with opposing viewsfrom centrist Dems to progressives to straight-up communists, along with everything in between and some of whats beyond. These factions are always infighting, which is reflective of why the phrase Dems in disarray has become such a cliché. At this moment on Bluesky, however, each of these groups seem to at least agree on one thing. That its time to chuck Schumer from a position of leadership.


Category: E-Commerce

 

2025-03-17 21:00:00| Fast Company

As March Madness takes over this week, how many people are filling out NCAA brackets and why? A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows what share of Americans typically take a shot at bracket predictions and their motivation for joining in the madness. The survey found that about one-quarter of Americans fill out a men’s March Madness bracket every year or some years. But what about the women’s tournament? High-profile NCAA womens basketball games have closed the gap with mens tournaments in terms of viewership and there is more money flowing in and around womens sports in general; womens teams will now be paid to play in the tournament, just like men have for years. It all points to higher interest in how womens teams fare even if the bracket frenzy has not quite caught up. The survey found that 16% of U.S. adults fill out a women’s tournament bracket every year or some years. And it’s much more common for bracket participants to only fill out a bracket for the men’s tournament than the women’s about 1 in 10 U.S. adults only fill out a men’s tournament bracket, while only 2% fill out only a women’s bracket. Another 14% fill out a bracket for both tournaments at least some years. So, a sizeable chunk of Americans are into NCAA bracketology, but what’s behind the hype? Among those who fill out brackets at least some years, about 7 in 10 say a reason for their participation was for the glory of winning, the chance to win money or the fact that other people were doing it. They’re less likely to be motivated by support for a specific school or team and in particular, to say this was a major reason for their participation. There’s certainly a financial motivation for correctly predicting the Final Four, and it’s hard to deny NCAA college basketball is in a betting-heavy era. More Americans can legally bet money on the NCAA mens and womens basketball tournaments than in previous years, and many will place a wager on their brackets success. Does that mean Americans think the tournaments are all about wagering, or that it’s technically gambling to enter a friends-and-family pool with only a modest payout at stake? Most U.S. adults 56% say that if someone enters a March Madness bracket pool for money, they consider that to be gambling. About 2 in 10 say it depends on the amount of money, and another 2 in 10, roughly, say this is not gambling. Who are the March Madness bracket diehards? Men tend to make up the bulk of the regulars who fill out a bracket at least some years. Among the March Madness bracket regulars, about 6 in 10 are men, including about one-third who are men under the age of 45. These bracket regulars are less likely to be women; only about 4 in 10 are women, and theyre about evenly split between being older or younger. Those who only fill out a bracket for the mens tournament are also overwhelmingly men. About 7 in 10 people who fill out a men’s bracket and not a women’s bracket every year or some years are men. About 4 in 10 are men over 45, and about 3 in 10 are younger men. If you can’t beat them, avoid them? Not everyone wants to risk a bracket buster and people avoiding the Madness this month are hardly alone. About 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they never fill out a mens or womens bracket. This group leans more female: About 6 in 10 bracket avoiders are women. And roughly one-third in this group are women over 45. ___ The AP-NORC poll of 1,112 adults was conducted Feb. 6-10, using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. Linley Sanders, Associated Press


Category: E-Commerce

 

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