Founded in 18th March, 1852 in San Francisco, California, Wells Fargo & Company is an American international banking and financial services holding company with its branches all over the country. It is the third largest US bank in terms of its assets. Over the years it has grown in terms of its revenue and expansion and is now recognized all around the world. People recognize the famous logo of Wells Fargo and associate it with financial solutions. Like any business, it has come across and faced a few scandals in business but has still shown remarkable performance and was ranked at #4 in the Forbes list of America’s Top Public Companies.
Well Fargo has successfully transformed itself from just operating in the western part of America to being located in several locations and becoming the third biggest bank by asset. One of the reasons is expansion and location in even remote areas. With more locations, it is able to target and gain more customers and thus increase its revenues. By more locations, Wells Fargo is able to connect and form strong, long-lasting relationships with its customers. The expansions have been in terms of dividing the branches on the basis of its services and then also opening up retail branches all over the county. This extensive network that has developed over decades definitely serves as its competitive advantage.
Moreover, Wells Fargo offers its services through different channels including regional branches, ATMs, telephone and internet banking. This gives so many options to the customers to access their services, further strengthening their network. It also offers very accessible and unique credit card options which make it the second-largest credit card issuer in America. So this extensive network makes it stand out in front of so much competition in the industry.
Constant development in terms of technology is the key to Wells Fargo’s success and growth. It has always strived to provide their customers with mobile payments systems and online payment system to keep up with the changing technology and provide the customers with accessible and convenient services.
As a part of their strategies focusing on delivering the changing needs of its customers, Wells Fargo has also largely focused on retaining their customers because of these strategies. It has been successful in maintain long relationships with more than 40% of its customers because of the fact that it dealt with them on a personal level, providing them services according to their needs and always came up with innovation and improvement in its services.
It is because of expansion and growth of Wells Fargo that any kind of financial crisis or change in policy does not directly has a toll on its business and it has been able to maintain its position in the US market for many years now. And this position in the industry counts as its biggest competitive advantage.
References
Maxfield, J. (2016, August 3). Wells Fargo Has This Big Advantage Over Its Competitors. Retrieved January 24, 2018, from https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/08/03/wells-fargo-has-this-big-advantage-over-its-compet.aspx
Wells Fargos Branch Network Is a Potent Competitive Advantage. (2016, March 30). Retrieved January 24, 2018, from http://www.nasdaq.com/article/wells-fargos-branch-network-is-a-potent-competitive-advantage-cm599675
Wells Fargo (WFC): Competitive Advantages. Retrieved January 24, 2018, from https://www.gurufocus.com/news/177432/wells-fargo-wfc-competitive-advantages
Wells Fargo on the Forbes Global 2000 List. Retrieved January 24, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/companies/wells-fargo/