An exploratory investigation of the marketing practices conducted by Islamic banks in Egypt

This empirical paper attempts to understand the marketing practices followed by Islamic banks in Egypt. Using in-depth interviews with marketing practitioners working in Islamic banks, the major marketing practices are assessed. These marketing practices are related to segmentation techniques, major elements of integrated marketing communications applied in their campaigns, and the evaluation tools adopted to assess the success of such campaigns. Seven in-depth interviews, with marketing professionals working in major Islamic banks in Egypt, were implemented during May and June 2010. Some of the Islamic banks interviewed are implementing aggressive integrated marketing communication campaigns and they are fully aware of relevant marketing practices and knowledge. However, the major challenge is that Egyptian consumers are not aware of their presence or of the basic difference between conventional and Islamic banks. This is attributed to the lack of trust in Islamic bank operations in Egypt and the limited marketing activities implemented by Islamic banks as compared to conventional banks. Thus for Islamic banks to grow in Egypt, they need to implement fierce awareness campaigns to educate consumers about their presence and about the Islamic products offered.