- More than 100 million customers per year in the shops
- Focus on own sales outlets
- Six new shops in Austria alone by the year's end
T-Mobile is today opening its 2000th shop in Europe in Vienna's Rotenturmstrasse. "I am very proud to announce today that we reached our 2007 goal to have 2000 T-Mobile shops in Europe! This is the result of our group-wide sales strategy to put the focus on our own distribution channels," says Hamid Akhavan, CEO T-Mobile International. This year alone on average 25 new shops per month have opened in Europe. Over 100 million customers throughout Europe have visited a T-Mobile shop in the last 12 months. They experienced the quality of the T‑Mobile services in a uniform, consistent and hands-on style in all T‑Mobile countries in Europe. Since 2004, some EUR 200 million have been invested in the development of our own sales outlets in Europe.
Focus on own sales outlets
The group-wide T-Mobile focus is on its own sales outlets, particularly the shops. The success of this strategy is also reflected in the customer satisfaction. The shops are one of the most important interfaces with the customer both nationally and internationally. In almost every country, where T-Mobile is represented the company is number one in 'mystery shopping'. The high customer satisfaction is a clear sign that T-Mobile is on the right path to become the most highly regarded service company. A consistent shop concept in all European T-Mobile countries with 2000 shops is an obvious competitive advantage.
Six new shops in Austria alone by the end of 2007
The opening of new T-Mobile and tele.ring shops and the apprentice initiative are both important elements Austrian sales strategy. In the fourth quarter of 2007 alone six new tele.ring shops will open - including in Leoben, Mattersburg, Feldkirch, Vienna and Amstetten. "The clear customer focus and associated investments are an important component of our strategy for next year," explains Robert Chvátal, chairman of the management board of T‑Mobile Austria. Since 2005 T-Mobile has invested over 4 million euros in the development of its own shops. T-Mobile Austria currently has over 70 T‑Mobile and tele.ring shops in Austria.
Outlook for 2008
New shop openings are also planned for next year in order to enlarge the presence of the T‑Mobile brand and intensifying customer contact. Parallel to the new shop openings, the existing shops will be optimized particularly in terms of efficiency, waiting times and availability. From next year on, over half of all T‑Mobile Austria employees will have direct contact with customers. The T‑Mobile apprentice initiative will also be extended to three further Austrian federal states. "Our aim is to continue to offer our customers innovative network solutions and services. The demands of customers steer the market. With our customer-based strategy we ensure that T‑Mobile is ready to face future challenges," says Chvátal, describing the company's strategy for the coming years.