Why buy online?

Fund supermarkets may have their fair share of special offers to entice investors through their virtual doors but do they really offer better value?

When fund supermarkets opened their virtual doors in the UK early last year, comparisons were drawn with their US counterparts, whose shelves had already been displaying wares for more than a decade. Given that one of the first entrants into the UK market was FundsNetwork, established by US mutual fund colossus Fidelity, this was perhaps inevitable. Since the establishment of a raft of other operations, interested parties have continued to compare the progress of the concept in the UK with that in the US, not least to anticipate future volumes of business. There are some key differences...