Tesco Bank lags its parent supermarket brand
WITH Tesco boss Phil Clarke saying that expanding its presence within the banking sector is one of his top priorities we’ve looked at BrandIndex data to make an assessment of the potential it has there.
Tesco Bank itself does not fare especially well at the moment. On the index measure it is in 18th place of the 25 brands with a consistent score of just below zero.
This is not surprising for a brand that has not yet tried to make a big impact in the finance market and what is more interesting is when we look at the parent brand, Tesco supermarket, which is the 5th highest scoring supermarket (behind M&S, Sainsburys, Waitrose and Morrisons) and compare it with the top scoring of the major banks, HSBC.
Whilst Tesco’s latest index score is +27, HSBC is down on +5. An even more dramatic picture emerges when we narrow that down specifically to satisfaction with Tesco Bank on +4, HSBC on +8 and Tesco Supermarket on +39.
It is clear that whilst banks are generally disliked the British public has maintained its love for supermarkets and they are highly satisfied with the service they receive.
What does this mean for Tesco’s move into the banking sector? It has a great opportunity to shake it up, taking on unpopular and untrusted competitors. If it can take advantage of the good name that Tesco has and if it can provide the levels of service that people clearly expect of it then it is in a great position to buck the trend and become a bank that the public has high perceptions of.
Stephan Shakespeare is chief executive of YouGov
