Coles Myer is to develop a multi-brand, multi-channel approach to selling financial services in its supermarkets and department stores.
The retailer is seeking to build strategic alliances with major financial services providers to develop in-store kiosks and has not ruled out badging some products with Coles Myer’s own brands.
Coles Myer chief financial officer John Schmoll says the company wants to see nationally branded products in the centres, but only those that customers want.
The financial services industry has been keen to forge an alliance with Coles Myer. ANZ and Westpac have already opened banking branches in Coles supermarkets, while NAB, Colonial, St George, AMP and several credit unions have been discussing opening outlets.
Schmoll says the product range offered in-store will cover everything from credit cards to superannuation. But he says some product offerings will be tailored to the outlet after in-store trials.
“The customers know which products they will want in which outlets, such as supermarkets having more technology-driven ranges and commodity financial service products,” he says.
Apart from leasing space for in-store banking branches, Coles Myer is developing its own ATM, which will accept any brand of card. This includes cards of the Commonwealth Bank, which has already signed an exclusive distribution deal with Coles Myer’s arch-rival Woolworths.
The machine will also feature a phone and a printer to allow services such as event booking.
Coles Myer customers withdraw $2.3 billion annually through EFTPOS, representing a huge potential market for ATMs. According to NAB, Australia’s largest EFTPOS provider on Christmas Eve, the bank recorded 120 transaction a second. This was a 30 per cent increase on the previous year.
In-store kiosks will offer financial services products ranging from mortgages to superannuation, and Coles Myer is presently conducting research on which products and brands will appear. Offerings will be displayed on a computer screen with Internet connection and kiosks will have brochures and a phone connected to a help desk.
However, Coles Myer has no plans to develop its own adviser teams.
“We are retailers, not financial planners,” Schmoll says.
No roll-out date has been set for the Coles Myer ATMs or kiosks, but the first prototypes are expected to be in-store by mid-year.
