Store estate overhaul

DUESSELDORF, Germany - Vodafone will shut 15 per cent of its 7700 stores and upgrade some of the remaining outlets as customers buy more online and change their expectations of in-store shopping, chief executive Nick Read said on Tuesday.

The group will overhaul its store estate using data to give insight into what customers want in each location, with 40 per cent of the stores transformed by the end of 2021, Mr Read said.

Around 5000 of Vodafone’s stores are in Europe, with the remainder in markets such as Asia and Africa.

Customer service offered by Apple and Amazon had changed expectations, and Vodafone hopes to improve its services faster than former incumbent rivals like BT, Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica with targeted and personalised marketing, he said.

“If you believe that 40 per cent of your transactions are going to be digital, then how does that impact why someone goes to a store. The journeys and the purpose of the store changes,” Mr Read told reporters at a briefing in Duesseldorf, Germany.

“(That) means that we will have more ‘experience’ stores, less standard format stores (and) more convenience, and kiosk and click-to-collect stores.”

Mr Read said the group would use new technology such as its AI-powered chatbot to help customers buy products and services in just three clicks.

Vodafone, the world’s second largest mobile operator, however, plans to continue store openings in of Britain.

In September, it announced plans to open 24 new franchise stores in Britain this year, and it is examining the possibility of opening 50 more stores in 2020 in conjunction with new online services.

Although Britain is Vodafone’s home market, it is not in the vanguard of Mr Read’s plan to create a “gigabit” company centered on 5G mobile, ultrafast cable and fiber broadband, and a European pay-TV platform second only to Comcast’s Sky in customer numbers.

Germany will be the engine of growth, Mr Read said, driven by the acquisition of Unitymedia, the largest cable network in the $US22 billion ($F48.3b) deal to buy Liberty Global assets, which was completed in July.

“I definitely think (Germany’s) the heart of the company, because it’s 40 per cent of the free cash flow,” he said.