Tržište (Dec 2007)
Card products market in the Republic of Croatia
Abstract
Card business in the Republic of Croatia started to develop more than 30 years ago in the form of non-bank card products, issued by American Express and Diners Club global payment systems. These card products were defined as standard charge cards and had been the only card products present in the market until bank cards appeared about ten years ago. The situation changed completely when banks started to enter the market as active participants in the card business. In co-operation with bank global payment systems, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International, banks have issued several millions of various cards in just a few years, while non-bank issuers have followed the same trend with new card products. This paper explores the current situation in the domestic market; it determines who the cardholders of particular products are, which products they are familiar with, whether they use them or not and for what reason. Cardholders’ opinions, attitudes and preferences towards existing products have been explored, as well as the benefits they would like to get. The results obtained imply that cardholders are familiar with all bank and non-bank card brands, but that they use mostly those which provide them with specific benefits. Therefore, instead of focusing on providing more similar products, issuers should concentrate on designing differentiated products that have been tailored to cardholders’ real needs.
