Retail and banking: do they care?
- Summary:
- Consolidation makes for strange bedfellows but does it hinder consumer choice? How about the use of social tools?
Similarly, Walgreens came up with the revelation that the number one customer complaint comes from having to wait in line for refill prescriptions (no shit Sherlock!) but at least they're doing something about it. They have a mobile app that scans the bottle and 'knows' when it needs replenishing.
All good you might think and at least two examples of how retail is responding to the 21st century digital world. But there's a problem - isn't there always? Consider retail banking.
We constantly hear how banks want to get closer to the customer and be more responsive although you'd often be hard pressed to know that much of the time. How about this from HSBC, the 'world's local bank.' "Yes sir we can replace your credit card. No, we can only deliver to your home address." Not much good when you're in another country and then have to negotiate where cards can be delivered and under what terms. And oh yes, this doesn't apply to your debit card or device...blah...blah.
Is this 'close to customer' routine just a joke or are there other issues in play?
Over the weekend, I stumbled across the graphic at the top of this post. The post title from which it came says it all: 10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy — This Chart Shows How. Consolidation is nothing new. As the same article points out:
In recent decades, the very news and information that you get has bundled together: 90% of the media is now controlled by just six companies, down from 50 in 1983, according to a Frugal Dad infographic from last year.
and...
37 banks have merged to become just four — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and CitiGroup in a little over two decades.
Far from expanding choice, the number of corporations that control the brands we love and hate is diminishing. They of course will argue that they still have to operate in a highly competitive market and that there are always new threats etc. Even if you slap the big foot of WalMart over all the brands then you still have to wonder whether competition represents a real threat.
Some will argue about the rise of 'own' brands as a price alternative but that didn't stop Nestlé from earning CHF 10.6 billion ($11.6 bn) profit in 2012, up 11.8 percent on the previous year.
The corner shop has all but vanished. Consumers constantly complain about bank fees and poor service. If anything, it seems like the desire to get on the now dead 'social business' (was it ever alive?) bandwagon is really all about selling more 'stuff.' And when you think about it, that makes perfect sense in a world of shrinking ownership and consolidation.
Agree?