Vodafone To Add EasyTech Stores in Several Countries

EasyTech stores have been designed to showcase and facilitate shoppers’ evaluation of a wide range of Vodafone products for businesses and consumers.

Vodafone is moving to again transform its physical retail footprint with the introduction of new concept stores designed to increase customer interaction and satisfaction.

The  EasyTech store format was first rolled out in Romania, with doors opened to the first concept site at the Magheru One building in Bucharest. To date, 24 Romanian stores have been “upgraded”, with plans to reach 30 by the end of 2023 and to take the EasyTech concept to outlets in Egypt, Greece, Ireland, and Turkey.

EasyTech stores have been designed to showcase and facilitate shoppers’ evaluation of a wide range of Vodafone products for businesses and consumers.

Offerings range from those expected from a network operator, such as phones, smart watches and tablets, to the more unorthodox, like air purifiers, electric scooters and TVs. Vodafone noted that EasyTech stores also provide services such as device and screen insurance, and a buyback scheme — including giving customers the option to replace their old device with a new one “on a better offer”.

The upgraded spaces are intended to boost customer engagement with the Vodafone brand, including areas dedicated to product display and dedicated sales offices for business clients. The shops are also populated with ‘TechExperts’ to assist shoppers in testing new tech.

While Vodafone is investing in overhauling its bricks-and-mortar retail presence in at least some of its European markets, research from TelcoTitans TelcoX has found that physical retail is one of the lowest priorities among senior leadership at Europe’s tier-one operators and vendors.

Physical stores are greatly neglected in CSP reporting and strategy despite, at least once, representing a major force in global retail, with some estates numbering tens of thousands of outlets amongst the largest in the world. Latterly, however, franchising and partnering has been embraced as one route to balance footprint and efficiency, with consolidation and closure a more extreme pattern.