The Internet and consumer power: the case of Spanish retail banking

摘要

This study aims to measure the impact of the Internet in Spain's retail banking sector, considering two fully linked key constructs: consumer power and consumer value. We define a new conceptual framework, three core propositions and 11 hypotheses, and contrast them in the context of the retail banking sector in Spain. Using a multicase method, we demonstrate that the Internet has increased the customer value of retail banking consumers and proceed to explore the causes for this. Our study constitutes a three-pronged contribution: 1. We define a new conceptual framework to explain the impact of the Internet on the customer power and customer value. 2. In the context of Spain's retail banking sector we contrast the observations made in the most recent literature on the subject, because up to now there has been little opportunity for these to be empirically tested. 3. We demonstrate, in a qualitative way, that the drivers identified in strategy and marketing literature are impacting on consumer value, though not with equal force. However, we put forward a differentiation consisting of two stages, which we denote as first transformation and second transformation. The drivers of the first transformation are the new players and the new competitive strategy (the supply side). The driver of the second transformation is consumer power (the consumer side).