This closure would as a material fact have to be communciated to O2. They would have a say in whether this affected the terms of the deal and if so deal accordingly. ALL 53 outlets where the nascent combined body is strongest, in broadband, being closed is very significant. It shows that they believe that the face-to-face Customer Services of the current VM business can be handled in O2 stores. A major rebrand, or joint rebrand, of these to VM although not impossible, seems much more unlikely to happen as a result of this announcement.
O2 does have a high-street presence - and with the loss of solo Carphone Warehouse stores, it could make the merger easier, that presence will inevitably be strengthened.
I'm very surprised that they only had 53 stores in the first place. Obviously not a major part of their business. I suspect most of the mobile/TV/cable business is done online.
Even Sky doesn't have shops although they do have retail presence in shopping centres.
It certainly doesn't make sense to keep both the O2 and Virgin Media stores open in Plymouth, as I realised yesterday that they are almost opposite each other.
To be fair Stuart, the O2 Store is right up by the mall, opposite EE. The Virgin Media shop is at the other end of New George Street by the fountain. But even then the VM stores were never that busy...
To be fair Stuart, the O2 Store is right up by the mall, opposite EE. The Virgin Media shop is at the other end of New George Street by the fountain. But even then the VM stores were never that busy...
That's about 40 yards apart. Also on the same short stretch are EE/BT as you stated, and Vodafone on the corner. They're all within sight of each other and you can walk past all four in just 2 minutes..
What did they actually
do
in Virgin Media stores? I can't imagine a situation in which I'd rather go into a shop and be pestered by a pushy salesman rather than just looking at the available packages on the website, making my mind up in my own time and booking an installation online. Why do you need a shop?
You could say the same about all mobile phone shops. I never buy them in a retail store. Main reason is salespeople trying to constantly steer you to a package that earns them the most commission rather than a package that’s best for the customer, then there’s the well known trick of adding extra “free stuff” into your bag then finding out next month that you have a mobile broadband dongle on your account that you didn’t want..... plus if you buy online you always have a 14 day cooling off period. The days of mobile retail is coming to an end... as demonstrated by the slow painful death of Carphone Warehouse.
You could say the same about all mobile phone shops. I never buy them in a retail store. Main reason is salespeople trying to constantly steer you to a package that earns them the most commission rather than a package that’s best for the customer, then there’s the well known trick of adding extra “free stuff” into your bag then finding out next month that you have a mobile broadband dongle on your account that you didn’t want..... plus if you buy online you always have a 14 day cooling off period. The days of mobile retail is coming to an end... as demonstrated by the slow painful death of Carphone Warehouse.
Indeed. In fact it's pointless in my experience going into a shop for support issues, because all they do is ring customer services, and hand you the phone !
You could say the same about all mobile phone shops. I never buy them in a retail store. Main reason is salespeople trying to constantly steer you to a package that earns them the most commission rather than a package that’s best for the customer, then there’s the well known trick of adding extra “free stuff” into your bag then finding out next month that you have a mobile broadband dongle on your account that you didn’t want..... plus if you buy online you always have a 14 day cooling off period. The days of mobile retail is coming to an end... as demonstrated by the slow painful death of Carphone Warehouse.
Indeed. In fact it's pointless in my experience going into a shop for support issues, because all they do is ring customer services, and hand you the phone !
The overheads of a mobile retail shop must be enormous. The contents insurance premium for the phones alone must be at least three, maybe four figures, never mind any buildings insurance/rent, other insurance, utilities, and staff don't work for free either.
