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Robo-advisor MoneyFarm has taken an unusual approach, but it could prove rather effective in the long run.
The company, which provides automated investment advice to users in the U.K. and Italy, has opened up a pop-up shop in Milan, reports Finextra . The temporary establishment will let potential customers view a demo of the company’s app, create a sample investment portfolio, and consult with a financial advisor.
The store will also entice customers with free events such as wine tastings, coding classes for children, and breakfast sessions with financial news reviews.
The pop-up shop opened on May 20 and will remain open until July 6 in Milan, at which point it will move to London.
Robo-advisors must scale in order to succeed because their business models depend on working with a significant number of assets. The roadblock, though, is that consumers might be hesitant to make the transition from a human financial advisor to a robo-advisor. But a successful marketing campaign can help with this transition.
Customer acquisition costs for robo-advisors can be high, in the range of $300 to $1,000 per person. To compensate for this, robo-advisors are bringing in new customers through partnerships. U.S. firm SigFig, for example, has partnered with multiple legacy wealth managers and now claims that it has no acquisition costs whatsoever.The rise of robo-advisors shows that we’ve entered the most profound era of change for financial services companies since the 1970s brought us index mutual funds, discount brokers and ATMs.No firm is immune from the coming disruption and every company must have a strategy to harness the powerful advantages of the new fintech revolution.The battle already underway will create surprising winners and stunned losers among some […]
