Editor’s Note: In this monthly feature, RCR Wireless News talks to retail managers across the country to get a first-hand view of what’s hot in wireless.
The wireless retail space has been in a state of flux over the past several years with carriers trying to find the perfect combination between company-owned stores, online sales, partnerships with big-box retailers and support for the thousands of independent retailers. One giant in the independent space is Celluphone, which was founded in 1983 and is the master agent for more than 2,000 retailers across the country. Mike Mohr, president of Celluphone, touched on trends the master agent is seeing through its retail customers.
What trends do you see in device popularity?
The base line has changed. Some features that two years ago were cool and new, are now expected – like cameras. So that conversation has shifted from “Does you phone have a camera” to “How many megapixels is the camera in your phone?”
Bigger screens: The trend used to be to smaller and smaller phones, and those are still popular. But as more and more consumer electronic products get consolidated into one device, the screen becomes more important for browsing the Web, viewing photos, getting directions and watching TV.
Convergence: The evolution of convergence has put the entire consumer electronics industry in the palm of your hand. For the wireless retailer, that is incredibly exciting, because it makes them consumer electronics retailers, not only wireless retailers.
Personalization: Now we are beyond functionality to personality. The phone you carry says something about you. It indicates the kind of job you have, how you spend your day, your tastes, your age, etc. It is a fashion statement as much as the clothes you wear. People want their phone to reflect who they are – and, who they want to be. You see it in the wide variety of colors available, faceplates, accessories, the wallpaper on the screen, the ringtones, even the brand identities of the phones themselves.
Which accessories are the most popular?
The basics still rule – items such as cases and car chargers. But they are evolving and the macro trend toward personalization has led to a growing demand for personalized cases and covers. A huge growth area is Bluetooth headsets. Not only are they incredibly convenient, it is becoming the law. In addition, however, are the new accessories needed to fully utilize recent innovations. An easy example is miniSD cards to create extra storage for cameras and MP3 players that are now part of the hot phones. If a retailer sells a music-capable phone, selling a miniSD card or two to the same customer should be almost automatic.
What plans are customers asking about and signing up for?
A few years ago, the growth area was family-share plans. Now, there are three big areas of growth in pricing plans – data, data and data. Data is no longer a four-letter word. It is not something for the future that you must convince a subscriber to add to their plan. They are using it in a huge way. As a result, retailers are rightly steering customer to the plans that bundle data buckets with voice buckets, creating an overall lower cost for the customer that is easier to manage.
Which data service add-ons are consumers most interested in?
Text is becoming one of those “givens” that customers just expect, especially the younger demographic (carriers cater to this by including it in their plans). Navigation in general is very popular. In wider retail, it was one of the hot items over the holidays and we expect that interest to continue to migrate to phone-based solutions.
What trends in the retail space do you expect to see for the rest of the year?
A continuing increased focus on the consumer experience at the point-of-sale. All of the great options and innovations provide a tremendous opportunity for both the customer to get more out of his or her device, and for the retailer to make a great profit per transaction. But, all of these options also can create confusion, making the customer unhappy if they don’t understand what they are getting. There is a huge opportunity for retailers that are able to provide that customer understanding. Greater focus on experiencing the services in the store. Retailers who appreciate these opportunities, and change their business model to embrace them, have more opportunity for growth and profits than ever before.
