According to the results of a recent survey customers in the UK are eager to see a wide range of financial products being made available from their local supermarkets, as many feel that the supermarket can offer far better service and far better value for money on these services and products compared to traditional banks. Many supermarket giants, such as Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s, already offer a range of financial products and services such as insurance, loans, savings, and most popularly credit cards.

Supermarket credit cards have proven extremely popular with shoppers in the UK, and around one in five shoppers has a supermarket credit card on hand. Savings accounts through the supermarket are also popular, and many – around a tenth of shoppers – have a savings account with their favourite supermarket. When it comes to current accounts access is currently limited, and therefore only one in every two hundred shoppers currently has a supermarket current account.

However, experts state that in the event that supermarkets decide to diversify further and improve accessibility to current accounts they could enjoy scooping a huge chunk of the current accounts market. Figures indicated that supermarket giants could take as many as 17 million of the UK’s 40 million current accounts if they decide to start offering this type of service on a large scale basis, and customers seem keen to see this happen.

One financial expert stated that supermarkets could easily walk away with nearly have of the UK’s current accounts should they decide to broaden their financial services and products, stating: “This is a massive unpicked cherry for supermarkets to target. With their low running costs, supermarkets can easily undercut other providers. They are already pinching customers from banks and in time could steal even more.”

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