[3GScottishUser]

From The Independent (10/08/2006):

The mobile phone company 3 plans to triple the number of stores it operates in the UK by the end of the year as part of a wider refreshment of its retail presence. It also plans to launch a major advertising campaign next month.

3 will add more than 40 stores to bolster its chain of 20 and will look to redesign its shops so that customers can trial unfamiliar new services. The company, which operates only a third-generation network, offers advanced mobile content services including a user-generated television station, live streaming of ITV1, pre-release music downloads and video-calling. It also operates about 150 concessions in Selfridges and Superdrug stores and will redesign that floorspace to highlight its new services.

3 is owned by the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, which also owns Superdrug. Hutchison has spent billions of pounds to secure a UK licence for 3G services and to build its network. It has also poured hundreds of millions of pounds into acquiring subscribers.

At the last count it had 3.5 million customers, but has put a flotation of the UK business on hold after its sister company in Italy failed to attract a valuation that matched Hutchison's expectations.

Bob Fuller, the chief executive of 3 UK, said: "In the future, people will not just come through the door and ask for the latest Nokia or the cheapest deal. With 3G, this really is a different selling process and as services get more sophisticated, it is only going to get more complicated for the customer."

He said third-party retailers such as Carphone Warehouse do not necessarily have the time to explain to each shopper what services 3G can offer.

The UK high street has had a mixed summer, but mobile phone retailers have gone from strength to strength. Independent mobile phone shops such as Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U have continued to grow sales at a rapid rate despite mobile phone companies including O2 and T-Mobile investing in more branded stores and online sales channels.

Competition in the mobile retail market is tough with more and more branded stores competing directly with the expanding Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U as well as online retailers and supermarkets such as Tesco. Earlier this year, O2 took full control of The Link as the chain had struggled to turn around its performance against its main rivals. O2 will rebrand most of The Link stores under its own banner but will offload some of the outlets.

Mr Fuller added that 3 plans to launch a major advertising campaign next month to coincide with its push into the retail sector. The marketing aims to set out the company as offering different services from those of other operators.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article1218063.ece

[hecatae]

He said third-party retailers such as Carphone Warehouse do not necessarily have the time to explain to each shopper what services 3G can offer.

or in other words, the commission paid is so low, we are no longer worthwhile promoting seeing as we undercut them by offering direct.

[3g-g]

or in other words, the commission paid is so low, we are no longer worthwhile promoting seeing as we undercut them by offering direct.

Your use of the word "we"... does that mean that you are Three? Or that you work for them?! ;)

[3GScottishUser]

It is quite noticeable that 3 deals are now quite rare on the High Street. Their direct activity appears to have damaged their relationship with the major chains and now most of 3's marketing seems to be aimed at driving customers to their own distribution channels.

I am a little concerned about Bob's 'complicated' statement. Customers dont like complicated things generally and not many will want a long lesson before buying a mobile phone. If this is what he reckons is required I suspect he will find that whilst his staff are educating the few others like CPW will be doing multiple deals on other networks and letting customers find out how to use the more complex services when the need arises. 3 UK really do seem to be between a rock and a hard place right now and statements like the above seem to confirm that.

[hecatae]

Your use of the word "we"... does that mean that you are Three? Or that you work for them?! ;)


Nope dont work for 3. :D

[Hands0n]

Bob Fuller says .....

Bob Fuller, the chief executive of 3 UK, said: "In the future, people will not just come through the door and ask for the latest Nokia or the cheapest deal. With 3G, this really is a different selling process and as services get more sophisticated, it is only going to get more complicated for the customer."


And with that simple (!!) sentence the erudite Mr Fuller has probably consigned 3 to history's wastebasket! What a plonker Rodn... errrr I mean Bob is. If he seriously thinks that the mass buying population want increased complexity that requires "training" in shops then he's barking, barking mad and barking up compeltely the wrong tree. Isn't it time that particular piece of deadwood was lopped off before he does too much more damage!

In fact, I think Bob is completely right when he says "In the future, people will not just come through the door .....".

Barking, I tell ya!

[3GScottishUser]

Indeed. Have to agree 100%. Having been involved with sales of technology products for many years and recalling the development of home video recording in the late 1970's (I sold the very first VHS video in the UK in 1978 BTW - an Akai 9800 [JVC Clone] bought by a taxi driver for £831 from the office of the buying director of a major multiple group), things really started moving when manufacturers made VCR's that were simpler with developments like Videoplus for programming etc.

Bob seems to have got carried away with his own company's spin. 3 are hell bent on improving their non-voice revenues. Their business as a 'multi-media company' can only make sense if they can prove beyond doubt that they are doing much more than your average mobile telco. They have tried to include downloads in many packages and have introduced some innovations like see-me Tv and video mailboxes but their actual ARPU has plummeted from 2004 to 2005 (HWL Annual Reports) by over 20%!! Non-Voice products are a great addition and 3 has to be congratulated for their innovative cross marketing deals with Yahoo for Internet Acess and MSN for IM services, the pity is that neither of those look as if they will make any difference to revenues because they are haing to give them away simply to sell existing contact deals!! There is mass confusion about when these products will be available to existing 3 customers and as with their TV offering there must be some question as to which handsets will support them.

I dont think customers who want a new mobile want to be bamboozled with technology and features when they are shopping for a contract. Imagine how long it would take to explain the features of a Nokia N80 or a SE K800i!! These are highly complex and are more like mini computers than mobile phones. I learned very quickly that it's very easy to talk customers out of a product by telling them too much about features, the trick is to focus on what suits their individual needs, failue to adhere to this principle leads to customer confusion and a lost sale.

I am sure many of us here are enthusiasts and relish the challenge of setting up and battling to configre new services but for every one of us there are probably 100 others who just want to dial numbers and send texts. Maybe some will want to take some pictures and swap stuff by Bluetooth but more complex features like Internet, IM, Outlook Sync, Wi-Fi, Video Editing, GPS etc etc whilst very useful will be features valued by a minority prepared to spend a lot of time to learn how to use them.

I think at the point of sale 3 (and the others) have to focus on the improvements that newer phones have in terms of 'ease of use'. Simpler contacts retrevial, simpler text composition and new network features like call catcher that can be very useful. For 3G sales people need a 'Wow' factor and I suspect the best in-store clincher might be to show customers how easy it is to watch TV on a handset.

Mobile phones will be used for much more than just simple voice and texts in the future but customers need time to grow into services and I fear that 3's agenda might just frighten many mainstream customers off and the sad fact will be that they are very likely to go elsewhere and buy a very similar device from someone else who 'keeps it simple'.

[Hands0n]

Now I've had a chance to calm down a bit :D

To be sure, the more sophisticated handsets of the type offered by Nokia with the S60 and even S40 Symbian operating systems do start to cross the line between Phone and PDA or even PC. An interesting article on the BBC World's Click program this week saw an "expert" predicting that the 2nd and 3rd world countries will be using their Mobiles more as PCs than we are accustomed to in the evolved 1st world! That may well come to be, but I'm not yet convinced.

The expert gave the rationale that terminal cost and problems associated with electrical power and communications links would press forward the adoption of ever-increasingly smart mobiles into those cultures.

But in our feature-rich western world and economy do we really need to compress ourselves into our mobile handsets, with all that involves? Won't those 2nd and 3rd woirld economies aspire to what we have and take for granted now? For how long will they accept or even embrace the practicalities of preparing and handling a "Word" or "Excel" document on a SmartMobile? Sure, there are other forms, but there are also established norms that our good friends at M$ have evolved for us.

And even if we can do all of this wonderful stuff on our Mobiles, will we ever want to? How many of us know non-keenies who just want to make phone calls and send texts on their shiny new 3G handsets? Nothing else. Just those two things, with maybe the odd picture message to pals, providing it does not cost too much (well done T-Mobile for bundling MMS into Flext - blatant plug). But even that is not too intuitive, although it is easier than ever these days. I have at least one associate who is completely befuddled with that though!

I am not convinced that making people think that they have to be "Trained" to use their Mobiles is a good idea at all. We already have a notion of how a Mobile should work - it rings, you pick it up and speak into it! None of the operators to date have significantly convinced us that our Mobiles should do much else.

Caveat: We have to exclude from the disucssion [perhaps] all of us who frequent the 3G forums. We are the leading edge from the Customer perspective. The 99% remainder of the Customer base barely percieve of the glorious wonders of the modern 3G (and for that matter, 2G) mobile handset. Messers Fuller and co are completely up the proverbial without a flat-ended stick of wood if they think that establishing training camps in the high street are going to get the punters beating a path to their sales counters.

[3GScottishUser]

Exactly my sentiments. We are enthuiasts and get lost in our own agenda.

Normal phone users have a different perspective and perhaps see things differently.

There are lots of folks out there that wonder why Mr X pays £40,000 for a high performance car when the speed limit etc is 70 MPH and view thier purchace as pointless. Similarly there will be basic phone users who view paying £35-40 a month for a contract phone with all the latest features as pointless if they themselves only ever use their handset for limited amounts of voice and some texts.

Sadly the latter are in the majority, just like the vast majority who drive corsas, fiestas, clios and the like......

It'll take time for the benefit values to 'trickle down' to the majority and no in-store 'lecturing' will change that. Think again Bob!