The Link backs £5m mobile launch
Mobile phone retailer The Link is putting a £5m advertising spend behind the launch of an in-store computer system that helps customers choose a phone tariff, network and handset.
Mobile phone retailer The Link is putting a &£5m advertising spend behind the launch of an in-store computer system that helps customers choose a phone tariff, network and handset.
The Link, owned by Dixons and BT, has spent &£3m installing the EasyLink computer programme in its 190 shops nationwide. Talks are being held with Dixons Group to roll out Easylink to its Dixons and Currys stores, which sell only pre-pay mobile phone packages.
Easylink asks the customer a series of ten questions such as when, where and for how long will the phone be used. A list of tariffs is then produced and ranked according to how closely products match the customers’ requirements.
Sales staff operate EasyLink for customers through on average four terminals per shop. Vodafone tariffs are listed even though The Link does not sell Vodafone connections, and the system is updated daily.
The Link marketing director Gary Tubb says the system will alleviate customer confusion about which tariff to choose. He says: “The winning retailer will be the one that makes it through the mobile maze.”
Tubb says any worries that The Link does not give impartial advice because it is part owned by BT will be negated by EasyLink. Rival Carphone Warehouse trades on its impartiality.
The TV, press and radio campaign by M&C Saatchi breaks on November 8. It was directed by Alex Winter, who starred opposite Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
