REX: Boursorama Breaks New Grounds in Customer Acquisition

Boursorama just reached the 1.5 million customers milestone: an occasion for them to report on their results. This subsidiary of Société Générale observed strong growth in terms of customer bases, yet no changes have been noted as to their profitability.

Boursorama saw their customer base increase twofold since the beginning of 2016, and even threefold since 2013. This online bank deems that this success is owed to high recommendation rates (92%).

Their growing customer base can also be accounted for by their diversification strategy: 49% of Boursorama’s new customers are under 30; the number of women also increased (to reach 46%), same applied to the number of customers from other regions than Île-de-France (from 43% in 2013 to 66% today).

Boursorama then appears to lead the French e-banking market. They now aim to reach the two million customers milestone by 2020.

Comments – Prospecting for profit

Boursorama’s director-general Benoît Grisoni explained that since January 2018, they attracted 30% more customers than Nickel did, when presenting this full-digital subsidiary’s results.

Instead of stressing encouraging figures in terms of prospecting, Boursorama representatives choose to highlight their success in facing neo-banking players. This branding strategy does not change the fact that Boursorama has to face the same issues in terms of profit as the neo-banks that seek to stand out from.

Setting customer acquisition as a priority comes with a cost. Boursorama reported roughly 49 million euros in losses last year. Their status as a subsidiary from a longstanding banking institution allows them to make up for these losses and stay the course.