Retailer sets sights on number three retailer position following documentary success
Fonehouse has set a target of becoming the third largest high street mobile retailer by the end of next year, with the company seeking to capitalise on its raised profile after featuring in a Channel 4 documentary.
The retailer is expecting the opening of around 120 additional stores to take its total shop portfolio to 170 outlets.
Fonehouse currently has 50 stores and this year it is looking to add three partners to its franchise programme every month to take its total to at least 80 before the end of the year. It will look to significantly increase this growth rate by opening around a further 90 stores next year.
The retailer is also confident of growing sales by 80 per cent before the start of 2012, raising turnover to around 45 million in the next 12 months.
The ambitious targets are a result of Fonehouse featuring in a documentary on Channel 4 entitled ‘Mary Portas: Secret Shopper’, which aired on February 2. In the programme Portas examined the poor level of customer service in the mobile industry and how Fonehouse has developed its business to combat that.
Documented heavily was a new store re-fit programme the retailer is implementing. Live demo handset bays are being installed to provide a more interactive customer experience whilst the standard white walls, grey slatwalls and front desks are being replaced with light coloured wooden benches and exposed brick walls to create a ‘sit down and relax mentality’.
A tribe system for handsets has been developed which categorises mobiles by who they are designed for, such as using wording like ‘Fones to Talk and Text’ and ‘Fones Which Can Do Everything’. These tribes are represented throughout the store with dedicated bays and information on individual handset cards.
Posters are also being replaced by 42-inch LED screens located in store windows, which display animated content featuring current Fonehouse promotions.
Live interactive handsets are located along the side walls and tables located in the centre of stores. Housed on the central bays are 20-inch touchscreen television displays which provide information on the products in store as well as enabling the user to compare different handsets and tariffs.
The first store to undergo the refit and featured on the programme was its outlet in Angel, North London. Since the documentary aired, sales have doubled in that store as well as growing by 30 per cent across its entire business.
Each of Fonehouse’s franchise partners will be required to invest on average around 25,000 of their own money for their store to be part of the revamp, although the amount spent does depend on the size of the shop.
Fonehouse is starting work on its Holloway Road store in North London this week, followed by its store in Walworth Road, near Kennington in south east London. Fonehouse will then begin work to re-fit its store in Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent.
It will take around six weeks to refit Fonehouse’s 50 stores. Existing partners can change to the new store look in their own time but any new dealers joining the programme will have to adopt the new style immediately. Fonehouse will also look to add to the five stores it wholly owns to its portfolio.
Fonehouse managing director Clive Bayley labelled the response from existing and potential new partners as “absolutely phenomenal”.
He claims the retailer is taking over 100 enquiries from interested partners every day, which instills the belief that all these targets can be comfortably met.
“There has been a huge amount of interest from new partners about joining us,” he said. “We’ve received hundreds of enquiries and have had around 50 application forms back already from interested dealers, and these are all from people very serious about working with us.
“Retail partners will have to invest around 25,000 each. The Angel store cost 45,000 to re-fit but once we’ve re-fitted a couple of them we’ll know where to cut corners and that amount will reduce massively. Some partners may even be able to get the look for 15,000. It depends on the size of their shop.
“We can now establish ourselves as a very important national retail brand. Now what we have to do is to get the partners signed up and to open the shops. We have the formula for a great national brand and my aim is to become the third biggest national mobile retailer by the end of next year.”
The current top three high street retailers are Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U and GoMobile.
