Abstract:
The study assessed the performances of new product development and customer satisfaction
in banking industry with reference to Wema Bank Plc, Akure Zone. Two set of questionnaires
were randomly distributed. One set was administered on 50 employees of Wema Bank Plc
while second set was administered on 100 new customers of the bank. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistic. Result of the analysis showed that majority of the
employees(92%) of the bank revealed that moment/easy life account are the most sought
product of the bank at present and this is confirmed by the majority of the new
customers(34%)of the bank who agreed that they are presently enjoying moment/easy life
account. It was further revealed that majority of the Customers (63%) agreed that poor service
delivery of the new product is the major challenge they are facing towards effective usage of
the products. Result of the regression analysis (0.63) showed that introduction of new product
has significantly increased the performances of the bank. This was also tested with the use of
chi-square at 0.05 significant level which showed that null hypothesis should be rejected
while alternative hypothesis should be accepted. i.e. Xt > Xc (40.75>9.49) indicating a
significant relationship between new product development and performances of the bank. The
chi-square statistic at 0.05 significant level revealed that null hypothesis should be rejected
while alternative hypothesis should be accepted .i.e. Xc > Xt (25.52>7.85) which indicates
that there is a significant relationship between customers’ satisfaction of new product and
continued patronage. The study concluded with the recommendation that bank should
constantly analyze her environment to enable her identify new market opportunities so as to
continuously launch new quality products to meet changing needs and expectation of their
customers.
