Vodafone, Fujitsu and Qmatic – Winning the top award at World Retail Awards 2007
The Best Use of Technology was awarded to Vodafone UK's implementation of Qmatic's world-class Customer Flow Management solution which has transformed the customer experience in the Vodafone stores.
Commenting on the award, the judges, made up of some of the world's top retailers and senior industry experts, said:
"Vodafone's automated queue management system is truly transformational and clearly consumer-led." "This is a clever and pragmatic technology implementation to better serve customers." "Vodafone has seen big improvements to sales in store and customer conversion levels."
Jonathan Dryland, head of Retail Development at Vodafone UK, said: "Qmatic has revolutionised customer management within our stores and has provided fantastic return on investment. This award demonstrates that simple and sustainable solutions can deliver the highest improvements to store performance."
Benefits achieved by Vodafone include:
- Return on investment doubled
- Turnover of refitted stores +3.5% above existing stores
- Customer service levels improved
- Customer conversion levels increased
- Staffing rotas changed to meet demand
Strong business case
"We are absolutely delighted with this result," said Peter Wilcox, Qmatic Managing Director. "This demonstrates that our strong commitment to the Vodafone relationship has delivered profitable and measurable business benefits," he said.
Vodafone faced stiff competition from Anchor Blue, SPAR UK, Specsavers Optical Group, Thomson and Virgin. The World Retail Awards were held during a glittering ceremony at the Palau Nacional in Barcelona.
Celebrating global excellence across different disciplines, sectors and borders, the Awards honour outstanding economic, creative and ethical achievements.
Winning strategy
Setting out to transform their customers' experience, Vodafone linked up with Fujitsu Services, its retained IT supplier and together they selected Customer Flow Management specialist Qmatic to help develop a tailored solution. After extensive consultation and visits to different examples of Customer Flow Management environments around the world, the Vodafone strategy was developed.
Qmatic was engaged in the early stages, developing a practical solution to deliver the new retail strategy. An important part of the Qmatic offering included a defined customer experience with a reliable business case to support the investment.
100 stores
The initiative involves touch screen technology which leads the customer through a set of questions to identify their requirements. The customer is then issued with a ticket, and allocated to a service queue that matches their requirements.
Large LCD screens provide real-time information for customers on their position in the queue, allowing them to browse the store in the confidence that their place in the queue is reserved. Following the trials, the solution is now being rolled out to 100 stores with the extension across the remaining portfolio to be announced soon.
Pictured above is Darryl Owen, Vice President Retail SAP presenting the award to Jonathan Dryland and Sheryl Lucas, Vodafone.
About Qmatic
Qmatic is the world's leading supplier of solutions for Customer Flow Management. Headquartered in Sweden, the company has 30,000 installations worldwide and a presence in 80 countries. Its UK offices are situated in West London. www.q-matic.co.uk.
Vodafone UK
Vodafone UK has 16.9 million customers and is part of the world's leading international mobile telecommunications group. Vodafone provides 3G roaming in 18 countries.
www.vodafone.co.uk.
Fujitsu Services
Headquartered in London, Fujitsu Services is the European-centred IT services arm of the Fujitsu Group. The Fujitsu Group is a US$40.6 billion (€33.4 billion) leader in the provision of IT systems and services for the global marketplace. www.fujitsu.com/uk.