Customers browse inside a Vodacom store inside Vodaworld, the headquarters of Vodacom Group Ltd., Vodafone's biggest African business, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday, January 28, 2013. Almost two decades after Vodafone Group Plc entered Africa, the region -- where most people earn less than $2 a day and mobile phone towers run on diesel -- is turning into one of the company's biggest profit generators. Photographer: Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg Customers browse inside a Vodacom store inside Vodaworld, the headquarters of Vodacom Group Ltd., Vodafone's biggest African business, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday, January 28, 2013. Almost two decades after Vodafone Group Plc entered Africa, the region -- where most people earn less than $2 a day and mobile phone towers run on diesel -- is turning into one of the company's biggest profit generators. Photographer: Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg
Asha Speckman and Bloomberg
SERVICE will over time become a differentiator between cellular network providers whose reputations have to date been sullied by the inferior service they provide, according to a leading industry analyst.
Commenting on a plan by Vodacom to improve services at its stores, Arthur Goldstuck, the managing director of technology research organisation World Wide Worx, said cellular network operators had mostly not given the same level of service as independent retailers.
“It has been a blot on their reputations in terms of providing the service they promise,” Goldstuck said.
Bloomberg reported yesterday that Vodacom was revamping its retail stores to offer services similar to those popularised by Apple.
Vodacom chief executive Shameel Joosub was quoted as saying that consumers would be able to test products such as smartphones and consult technicians at support stations comparable to Apple’s Genius Bar.
The company is testing the concept at three outlets before expanding the service to more of its 270 stores in the country.
Rival MTN has 450 stores, including franchises.
Vodacom spokesman Richard Boorman said the extent and schedule of the roll-out were not yet finalised, although the firm was at the “tail end of the design and testing phase”.
“We’re testing everything from customer flow through to how well the features are received,” Boorman said.
Joosub, who took over as chief executive this month, said shopping at Vodacom would “be more closely aligned to the Apple experience than the normal transactional experience that we have today”.
Vodacom, which is 65 percent owned by the UK’s Vodafone, is seeking ways to expand its business after local cellphone sales fell during the fourth quarter of last year.
Voice revenue, which makes up about half of the company’s South African sales, slipped 2.3 percent to R7.6 billion. SMS revenue dropped 5.6 percent.
Avior Research analyst David Lerche said: “It is operators looking for other things than price to compete on. They [Vodacom and MTN] would both rather compete on quality and marketing than on price. There’s price pressure from Cell C as well as 8ta and Telkom Mobile to a lesser extent.”
Joosub said Vodacom would focus on the root problem and try to ensure a clear differentiation in comparisons between its stores and those of competitors.
An in-store advisory service could remedy existing phone support, which shopper Clinton Hawley called inadequate.
“I find them pretty good, but when phoning in, the advice is a bit pathetic,” the 27-year-old mechanical engineer said outside a Vodacom store in Sandton City, Johannesburg.
Goldstuck said there was a need for customers to deal with a human being rather than a call centre, especially as the variety of cutting-edge products made it difficult to tell from a catalogue which device would best suit the customer’s needs.
Goldstuck said the concept to be offered by Vodacom was not new. Stores such as Dion Wired and Incredible Connection gave customers a chance to interact with products with the help of a technician.
Boorman declined to comment, saying: “We’ll have to wait for the launch.”