Dulles, VA June 14, 2024 – With Nationwide on the verge of acquiring Virgin Money, GWS took a look at each company’s customer base. In particular, mobile app analytics data from GWS Magnify shows the following:
- Virgin Money has about 1.8mn monthly active app users – this is significantly lower than Nationwide which had about 6.2mn in May 2024
- Taking overlap into consideration, the combination of Nationwide and Virgin Money would tie with Halifax for the most monthly active app users at 7.5mn if Nationwide acquires Virgin Money
- Both Nationwide and Virgin Money monthly active users have fallen over the last year (May 2024 over May 2023) – down 3.1% and 10.9% respectively. This is in contrast to other mobile banking apps that have seen the number of monthly active users grow, specifically Barclays which is up 8.5% on monthly active users and Lloyds which is up 6.7%
- When looking at the broader mobile banking landscape, Virgin Money has the highest proportion of older users aged 45 and above at 74%. Nationwide is slightly lower at 60%
- Virgin Money boasts a more loyal customer base than Nationwide with only about 33% of its users also on other apps, while 45% of Nationwide customers are using multiple banking apps
Commenting on the proposed merger between Nationwide and Virgin Money, Dr Paul Carter, GWS: “The CMA’s consultation period comes to a close this week, following which judgement will be cast on whether Nationwide’s takeover bid of Virgin Money can go ahead. If the deal goes ahead, the bank will be second only to Lloyds in terms of branch numbers. But while much discussion has been focused on the physical world, little has been said about the mobile world where another battle is raging – the battle for mobile app engagement.
The rise of mobile apps has taken the sector by storm and there’s no denying that mobile is increasingly important for the industry and its customers. While Halifax currently has the top spot for the number of monthly active mobile users, if the deal goes ahead, Nationwide and Virgin Money would overtake Barclays to be joint top with Halifax. But how long they retain this is questionable, as over the last year we’ve seen the number of monthly active mobile app users for both Nationwide and Virgin Money fall. This is in contrast to other apps like Barclays and Lloyds which have seen big gains in monthly active app users. So while a deal may be a boost for the number of mobile app users in the short term, this won’t last long if the firm is not able to find ways of drawing customers to its app for longer-term engagement. And in today’s world where we are relying on our phones more and more for essential services like banking, this is crucial for long-term success.”
Note: App engagement data was generated using Magnify, GWS’s mobile intelligence data platform. Magnify is comprised of key insights collected from consumers (age 18+) participating in our market research programs in the United Kingdom and the United States. These are real-life consumers who use their mobile devices as normal throughout the day so that the analytics data GWS gathers provides the most accurate picture of the U.K. and U.S. mobile connectivity experience. Data is anonymously collected from Android smartphones 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whenever and wherever the consumers use their devices. Data is reported in aggregate for market research purposes only. All information collected is weighted to a U.K. or U.S. user’s demographic representation of their country’s respective adult population. For more information visit https://gwsmagnify.com/
About GWS: For most consumers today, their mobile device is their life’s remote control. As an independent mobile insights consulting firm, GWS measures every aspect of how people live, work, and play via their mobile devices – as well as how mobile network performance affects them.
Combining our market-leading network benchmarking technology and methodology with deep behavioral data, we help businesses and organizations drive innovation and deliver better customer experiences through mobile insights, anywhere in the world. Championing the needs of mobile users by understanding and testing the things that matter to them, we’ve evolved our technology and services in step with the needs of industry and consumers for 28 years.
GWS Media Contact:
Adam Hudson
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