Monday, January 18, 2010

How to sell air to shoppers - Telecommunications in retail

When Alexander Bell invented the telephone in 1876, I don’t think he realised that his invention would create an industry worth of $1.2 trillion USD per year or account for 3% of the gross world product.

The Telecommunications industry is a giant, impacting on every sector of the economy as well as playing a significant role on social and cultural relationships.

Telecommunication companies in Australia have built a massive empire, but there is also a massive problem...

How does such a huge industry remain relevant and communicate with you and me – the shopper?

I was in a shopping centre on the weekend and noticed a few Telecommunication retail stores that are attempting to develop a better shopper focus. The three stores I visited all have modern, bright fitouts and contain a number of shopper initiatives, which are positive, relevant and clearly based on shopper needs.

These include;

  • Areas to sit down – to discuss plans and products with staff
  • Well trained, helpful staff - some stores do much better than others here
  • Dummy product devices - allowing customers to physically touch and feel the products
  • Devices that actually work - which do an even better job than dummy devices, until that embarrassing security alarm goes off because you’ve detached the device from the wire
  • Well themed service areas – a good idea as long as there is staff there to help you
  • Interactive TV screens to play with the products and investigate plans - silent sales displays areas are a great way of keeping shoppers busy if there is a wait for a real human to help you.
  • Displays segmented by customer – segmentation is important because these stores carry a large range of products across segmented customer uses
  • Hang-out zones for kids – keeps kids busy while parents decide which toy to buy for themselves

While each store incorporated some of these initiatives, there was one stand out for me. Can you identify which of the following stores was my standout and why?


Optus Store


Telstra T life


Vodafone store


Vodafone store


For me Vodafone is the clear winner. This is because of the clever use of customer/product segmentation by colour.

Colour blocking is a tool that is used to make it easier to shop due to a logical layout based on colour and visual consistency. Fashion retailers use colour blocking as a matter of course.

The Vodafone store I visited uses colour in the fitout design, fixtures and point-of sale to effectively segment their products. Products for Business shoppers are themed green, Special Offers are red, Prepaid is purple, Cap Plans are yellow and Mobile Broadband is blue.

It is interesting to compare Vodafone to the Telstra Store and Optus shop who don’t use any colour segmentation.

One clever initiative based on shopper insights has made all the difference for Vodafone.

Alexander Bell would be proud!


No comments: