Edelweiss is a leading Indian financial services firm established in 1996 that provides advisory services to small businesses and startups. It has survived market downturns and now competes with large international banks, holding a 3-5% market share in investment banking. Edelweiss is assessing whether to rebrand and expand into more lucrative retail financial services. It recently acquired Anagram Capital and is well-positioned to leverage Anagram's large retail customer base and expand its high-net-worth individual segment. However, shifting focus to retail banking brings risks like alienating existing business customers or higher user acquisition costs due to lack of retail brand equity.
Edelweiss is a leading Indian financial services firm established in 1996 that provides advisory services to small businesses and startups. It has survived market downturns and now competes with large international banks, holding a 3-5% market share in investment banking. Edelweiss is assessing whether to rebrand and expand into more lucrative retail financial services. It recently acquired Anagram Capital and is well-positioned to leverage Anagram's large retail customer base and expand its high-net-worth individual segment. However, shifting focus to retail banking brings risks like alienating existing business customers or higher user acquisition costs due to lack of retail brand equity.
Edelweiss is a leading Indian financial services firm established in 1996 that provides advisory services to small businesses and startups. It has survived market downturns and now competes with large international banks, holding a 3-5% market share in investment banking. Edelweiss is assessing whether to rebrand and expand into more lucrative retail financial services. It recently acquired Anagram Capital and is well-positioned to leverage Anagram's large retail customer base and expand its high-net-worth individual segment. However, shifting focus to retail banking brings risks like alienating existing business customers or higher user acquisition costs due to lack of retail brand equity.
Edelweiss is a leading boutique financial services firm that was established in
1996. The company was primarily involved in providing advisory business to small SMEs and startups. The company has survived the various downturns in the market and today competes with the likes of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley etc. It enjoys a significant market share of 3-5% in the Investment Banking & Investment Equities business. Although, Edelweiss has had a long successful run as a B2B financial player with presence across financial verticals, they are faced with a question of whther and how should they rebrand themselves and enter into the more lucrative wholesale and retail financial advisory business. As a step in the direction, they have acquired Anagram Capital, and Edelweiss seems well poised to explout their new number two position in the HNI segment and leverage Anagrams large retail customer base. The key success drivers for Edelweiss to succeed in the new marke are:
External Corporate Branding
Drivers Branding Through PR Internal Knowledge & Research Drivers Employee Ownership Compliance Ideas and Innovation Commitment to excellence
Shifting focus from B2B to more on Wholesale & Retail banking comes with its own set of risks and challenges:
Alienation of existing B2B customers
Increased costs of user acquisition and and retention. Lack of brand equity in the retail space
To maintain its corporate reputation, we would recommend Edelweiss to focus on
the following parameters: a) Unification of Culture & Values: An acquisition comes with its own sets of challenges and the most difficult part is unification of the employee culture and values. Anagrams employees need to be informed about the core guiding principles of the Edelweiss. The company prides itself on its values and as such these values need to be internalised with the new employees of Anagram. b) Focus on Employee Training & Development: For a retail company, its employess are the biggest brand ambasadors. Potential customers will judge Edelweiss basis their experience with the employees of the company. Hence it is imperative that Edelweiss invests heavily in grooming & training of employees so that they can be great brand ambassadors. c) New Customer Acquisition: Edelweiss should leverage its existing knowledge & position in the B2B market to effectively service their B2C market and capture more market share. The company can leverage its position as a leading research based analytical company and tweak their offering to provide individual customers more valuable insights thereby allowing them to make well informed choices.
High Compliance Standards should be positioning as a value addition to
the customers. Edelweiss can undertake an intensive and highl visibility advertising campaign, so as to attract new customers, create more awareness of their foray into the retail space and in general instill customer confidence post the recent recession.