Uninor opens retail outlet in Madurai
Expanding retail presence; Launched with unique pricing strategy; Customer focus
Tweet-- Uninor opened an exclusive Company Owned Customer Outlet (COCO) in Madurai on 3 February 2010. The outlet located at No - 20,North Veli Street, Madurai - 1, has a floor space of about 696 Sq Ft. This is one of the experience stores that Uninor provides its customers - a one-touch interface for Uninor customers in Madurai. This exclusive store will provide a whole gamut of services such as new connections, product plans, recharge, providing unique numbers, address grievances, etc.
Uninor plans to establish exclusive retail outlets in the top 10 districts in Tamil Nadu and expand further progressively. Madurai is a significant retail point for Uninor's growth plans. At present Uninor operates one COCO in Chennai, one in Puducherry and one in Cochin. By December 2010, the company plans to have in place another 15 COCOs in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala Hub. Uninor is also planning on 150 FOFOs(Franchisee owned Franchisee outlets) for the Tamil Nadu -Kerala Hub by the end of this year. Each COCO employs 8 Customer Relationship Executives (CRE) and a FOFO (Franchisee owned outlet) employs two CREs. Overall, Uninor COCOs and FOFOs will provide employment to about 500 CREs by December 2010.
Launched with unique pricing strategy
Uninor launched its services in 8 circles and hit a subscriber base of over 2 lakh in Tamil Nadu and over 1 lakh in Kerala and a pan-India subscriber base of 12 lakhs by end of 2009. Uninor came up with a unique pricing strategy that moved away from the per second plan.
"Our products and price models are designed with a long term customer relations perspective and not short term wallet share of the customer. We are targeting a segment that demands quality and service, at affordable prices. We are focused in positioning ourselves in this segment," said Stefan Kercza, Head of Tamil Nadu-Kerala Hub.
According to Stefan, all research indicates that on a broader perspective, there are two types of calling patterns in mobile usage - multiple calls with short call duration & minimum number of calls with long call duration. Keeping with both these patterns, at 29 paise per minute, the customer realizes the maximum benefit by talking or calling more. Uninor moved away from the per second approach to take a clear cut segmented approach. "The segment we are targeting looks more for value. Our pricing strategy provides value specific to the usage pattern of our segment."
In Uninor's Talk More Plan, after the initial call setup charge of 39 paise, subsequent minutes are priced at 29 paise. If a customer speaks for 3 minutes his call charges are Rs 1.26. In the per second billing, the same 3 minutes would cost a customer Rs 1.80.
In the case of the per minute billing, our 29 paise in the Call More Plan still adds value when the customer makes more calls and talks more. Most per minute plans in the market charge 40 paise per minute. Uninor charges 29 paise per minute with Rs 2 rentals only for the day. A customer gets value from the 29 paise per minute when he makes more than 4 calls a day.
The 29 paise plan is trying to appeal to the short callers and benefit the long callers.
Customer focus
Uninor promises to bring to its customers -
- Good network and voice clarity & quality of service.
- Simple plans that are aligned to his usage needs and not just low cost plans.
- Adhere to the company's core values- Keep promises, be inspiring, be respectful & make it easy
"Our marketing focus is to keep the customer as the central focus. It is no longer about providing technology; technology is given. It is about empowering the customer with quality service and tailor-made products," said Stefan Kercza.
Notes to Editor
Uninor is a joint venture with Unitech & the Telenor Group. Uninor brings with it the expertise of the Telenor Group that is No. 1 or close to it in their mobile and telecommunications operations in Europe, the Nordic countries and other Asian countries.