Beginning my research for project 1, During week 1, I was tasked with looking into existing bank branches through Belfast, mainly to get a feel with the setting, punctuality, customers and layout branch based banks have to offer, before eventually moving over to digital banks.
Myself and my classmate, Nathan would team up and go out together, gathering first hand research of three different bank branches. Barclays, Nationwide, and HSBC.
Upon looking into these 3 branches, straight away a massive notice was that 2 out of the 3 brands were completely empty, enough to hear my own voice echo. The only one that wasn't empty was actually packed enough to have a queue of people almost out the door was Nationwide.
When scouting out the branches, I tried my hardest to take images within the building as much as I could but the staff always seem to provide a vibe as if they were suspicious of us which didn't make me too comfortable to be able to achieve that.
I was able to learn a lot just from visiting these 3 branches on how much of a difference there is between banks online and in person. When visiting the customer service was usually straight over to use, asking if there was any help needed or what we were looking for, which is a positive. However, take that away and we would be confused as to where to go, what to do and who to speak to on any enquiries myself and Nathan could have.
