Mystery Shopper: Northampton

With NFC being much talked about, Mystery Shopper is keen to get more innovative and have the technology to hand at all times. Could the retailers come up with the most suitable and compatible smartphones?

6: Carphone Warehouse

Product range – 4/5
Product knowledge – 2/5
Airtime knowledge – 2/5
Questioning ability – 2/5
Sales ability – 1/5
Shop appearance – 4/5
Total – 15/30

5: Three

Product range – 4/5
Product knowledge – 2/5
Airtime knowledge – 3/5
Questioning ability – 3/5
Sales ability – 3/5
Shop appearance – 3/5
Total – 18/30

4: O2

Product range – 3/5
Product knowledge – 5/5
Airtime knowledge – 4/5
Questioning ability – 3/5
Sales ability – 3/5
Shop appearance – 4/5
Total – 22/30

3: EE

Product range – 4/5
Product knowledge – 5/5
Airtime knowledge – 4/5
Questioning ability – 5/5
Sales ability – 5/5
Shop appearance – 5/5
Total – 28/30

2: Vodafone

Product range – 5/5
Product knowledge – 5/5
Airtime knowledge – 5/5
Questioning ability – 5/5
Sales ability – 5/5
Shop appearance – 4/5
Total – 29/30

1: Phones 4U

Product range – 5/5
Product knowledge – 5/5
Airtime knowledge – 5/5
Questioning ability – 5/5
Sales ability – 5/5
Shop appearance – 5/5
Total – 30/30

Summary

I expected the retailers to struggle, as NFC is a new technology, but on the whole they impressed.

Mike and his unnamed colleague at Carphone didn’t seemed bothered by my query, while Three’s salesman was confused about which phones were NFC-enabled. Bobby at O2 put in a solid shift but rushed through the NFC demo and was vague on specs.

It then came down to EE, Vodafone and Phones 4U, and it was close.

EE’s Jordan kept me waiting longer than was ideal but it was James, with a slight helping hand from Sav, who beat Vodafone’s Sam to first place due to the impeccable personal and customer service he provided and then unbeatable offer he came up with.

Full article in Mobile News issue 544 (July 29, 2013).

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