Co-op to put mini-banks in 250 stores
August 26, 2008
The Co-operative group has announced plans to put mini banks in some of its convenience stores in a bid to encourage customers to use more services available from the group.
Tesco, Sainsburys and Marks & Spencer have introduced similar strategies. Co-op hav also launched a new campaign to compete with the big competition by pushing its ethical programme.
The Co-op started trials six weeks ago in stores in Nottingham, Brighton and Hove. They hope to open mini breaks in 250 of its 2,200 stores, if the trial is a success.
The group is investing £1m in the project. It is part of a wider plan to double its market share in financial services over five years. Chief executive of Co-operative Financial Services, David Anderson said there was a “huge opportunity” as “there is very little cross-handling between products”.
He said that on average customers have 1.3 financial products. “We think we can push that to over two, which would mean we can almost double our customer base without finding any new customers.”
The Co-op group includes pharmacies, funeral directors, travel and legal advice services. They are hoping to boost cross-selling between the group.
The services in the stores will vary from cash machines to facilities to deposit cheques and to other where there will be staff to advise on products like mortgages and investments.
Gaining more banking branches will hopefully support the Co-op’s phone and internet bank, Smile, as customers like to have the options of having a physical branch even if they carry out most banking transactions through the internet or the phone, Mr Anderson.
The Co-op also believes they have an advantage over its competitors because of its ethical investment policies. “One-third of our profits are from customers who say they joined for our ethical policy,” Mr Anderson said.
Visit www.co-operative.coop/ for more information on the group.
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