Efficient Service Production and Consumer Choice of Delivery Channels

New technologies, such as the Internet and mobile phones, give companies possibilities to deliver services to customers in multiple ways. In this article we analyse how banks have used the possibilities and how their retail customers have adopted new channels for different services. We developed a model for efficient delivery strategies based on institutional economics. The alternative generic strategies are predefined contracts, self-service and use of service personnel to obtain full service, The structuredness of services and level of channel automation determine what strategy should be used in a given situation. We conducted a mail survey on the use of delivery channels for retail banking services. The results indicate that customers’ behaviour match rather well with the strategies that are efficient to produce the services. However, some deviations were also observed. These discrepancies were analysed and new insights generated to understand better the customer choice of service channels. Our model and the empirical findings can be used to develop the delivery of banking services, but more importantly, other industries might find them useful when creating same kind of service infrastructures as the banks already have.