Standard Life look to apply Amazon model to pensions
David Nish, the new chief executive of Edinburgh-based Standard Life, has instructed executives to study the retail methods of Amazon
The move follows a 15-month customer insight study which demonstrated that customers are demanding greater online access to help them monitor their pensions and investments.
Nish believes that a new Amazon-based portal could boost cross-promotional opportunities. It would, for example, tell individuals who choose a specific product what others, who have also chosen that product, bought in addition. Meanwhile it would give customers more information and more control of their investments.
“One of the ways I am challenging our various teams,” he told the Scottish edition of The Times, “is to ask them to think like Amazon. If you ask around a room full of people it is amazing how many put their trust in Amazon to pick a book for them.
“We can only deliver our physical service to customers in a limited number of locations but I am asking ‘can we leverage technology to give us real scale?’”
Nish says that such a development would allow investors to log on and change their investment strategy as they go through various life stages; from starting work, to putting a child through education to retirement.
He believes it might also make organisations like Standard Life more competitive as they face new entrants into the market place such as Tesco; which has a substantial retail estate and an army of loyalty card holders.