Creating a financial product for Gen Z investors – "Gip-Z"

Desired outcome

At Capital Financial Center, we are collaborating with students for developing Gip-Z - a new financial product for our portfolio, specifically tailored towards the Generation Z (born after 1977).

The research team will analyse the Macedonian students’ and young adults’ investment preferences and gain insights on competition and industry practices. Later you will be tasked with adapting existing products (at more applicable fees and other product flexibilities) and finally design an investment solution within company’s regulatory restrictions (meaning that options and crypto investments are not allowed).

We invite motivated, creative and dedicated teams to showcase their abilities and gain hands-on experience in designing new products!

Initial Problem Description

In our operation we have managed to build a strong attractive product and service portfolio (including investment funds, asset management, insurance and others) – mostly by utilizing solutions focused towards employed citizens with stable income, one that Gen Z may still lack. Our services were highly demanded by the population and met with a high number of sales. Due to the bigger amount of money needed for such investments, it mainly attracted middle aged generations which consist 94% of Capital’s clientele.

Other than a strong marketing campaign (see our other challenge), we have concluded that a new product is what we need in order to achieve our goal to somehow touch generation Z needs and preferences. We would ask the team for their offer on a way to adapt or create a new product in the field of investment funds what will attract Gen Z investors. So in this challenge, you will attempt to develop the innovative product by using your creativity and expertise and provide us with an attractive idea specifically tailored for Gen Z customers!

Context

The Capital Financial Center and Capital Asset Management have performed strongly on the Macedonian financial services market. Our group exists in the financial sector for more than 4 years. We offer financial services to customers which include: asset management, mutual funds, insurance solutions and investment advisory. Capital has a strongly built personal sales team consisting of around 40 professional sales persons distributed among key cities in North Macedonia. We usually organize financial education seminars free of charge and are also present in magazines, media and public events. We managed to build a strong and loyal client base – mostly by using our attractive products and personal sales network.

Even though we have strong sales figures, only 1,9% of our clients are Generation Z clients (born after 1997). This is the reason why we are initiating this challenge on our side while for the Generation Z, this new product will mean better opportunity for creating healthy financial habits. We plan on a powerful acquisition of these customers by creating a new innovative product for this specific generation – Gip-Z and a strong marketing strategy (see our other challenge).

Connection to cross-cutting areas

This challenge explores financial inclusion and literacy in the region by helping young individuals build financial stability. We connect our challenge with behavioral science and determining the investment psychology of the Z Generation. Ethical financial solutions and adaptation towards digitally driven populations is also included in the challenge.

Input

You will have full support of our company with any important internal data that may be crucial to you during the research (unless it is confidential). Additionally, we are willing to assist you in distributing your survey questioners to the target population in case you have struggles reaching them. We will respond quickly to your e-mails and answer your questions or give you guiding remarks. In the case your team designs a real product that we can implement, all members will be given a professional letter of recommendation from our company. We will provide you with a starting informational document consisting of relevant data to you.

Expectations

What we would ask from the team to distribute is:

- A decent market research which will discover which investment products attract Gen-Z customers and what are their biggest barriers when it comes to investing - consisting of own research, literature review, competition analysis and industry practices (could be from other countries);

- According to this research findings, advise Capital Group on how we can improve/adapt our existing services to attract this segment of the population.

- Construct a new financial product called Gip-Z – a well-defined, research-backed investment package specifically designed to benefit Generation Z investors.

- Create an implementation roadmap, pricing & promotion plans and instructions on launching this product.

We are happy to collaborate throughout this process!

Desired Team Profile

For such a challenge we would mostly expect that the applicants will be students/researchers from economic fields (economics, finance, management, business studies, marketing, e-business and others) or psychological and sociological sciences. However, the background of the students may be diversified or may include fields that were we did not mention. Enthusiasm, creativity and discipline is what we value the most, so if you are willing to gain practical experience in innovation and product creation field while making a real impact, this is your chance!

Additional Information

We have a highly demanded product named Vip-Gip, tailored for stable income individuals and families. It requires an investment of 1000€/year for a 15-year period. It is designed with the following benefits:

- An opportunity to invest additional 15 000€ in your account without entry fees;
- 50% discount on entry fees for opening a second account;
- Free investment recommendations in case our analysts find a profitable opportunity;
- Free of charge attendance to the annual investors’ meetings.

Although it has a lot of benefits, Gen Z individuals cannot commit to it as they often lack the required resources. The product package you design should be tailored for Generation Z.

Related Keywords

• Creative products
• Creative services
• Market research
• Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
• Consumer Services
• Security and commodity brokers and services
• Investment groups