WAMU's "Occasio Concept" Catches On
Washington Mutual's Occasio concept has apparently caught on - the relaxed, retail-like atmosphere is now in place in over 200 locations, including 40 in the New York/New Jersey area. We wrote about the concept last fall when there were just a handful of stores on the West Coast.
Occasio, which is a Latin term for "favorable opportunity," is a banking concept radically different from the traditional bank branch. Since the mid-1990s most banks have sought ways to get customers to use new technologies, but many of those technologies take them outside to automated teller machines or home to their personal computers. Washington Mutual, meanwhile, was studying ways to draw people inside its physical locations.
Gone, however, from those locations are the tellers of the traditional banks and their windows. In their place are khaki-clad "concierges" who direct people to where they need to go according to what the customers need. They may be directed to one of the "teller towers," circular help desks where they can conduct their own business or talk to an employee. They may end up at one of the touch screen service areas where they can research products and services or at a computer that will help them conduct online banking. They may end up talking to one of the employees that has a hand-held "p-teller," a palm device employees can use to get most customer banking done that doesn't include cash back. They may end up at an automated teller machine or one of the private chairs and tables set up so employees can meet with customers to discuss issues that require privacy.
The new retail stores were designed by the same company that designed Disney retail stores. At Occasio locations, children have play areas to entertain them, and the centers even have a retail service area where visitors or young persons can shop for financial products and services such as software and educational materials. And if all of that isn't enough to convince them that they are shopping, not just banking, they can purchase a Washington Mutual Action Teller doll.
Copyright © 2002 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 12, No. 8, 10/02
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