O2 drops Phones 4u after poor sales
Operator pulls business from Phones 4u after it made up just eight per cent of total contract connections at the retailer last year
Retailers
January 31, 2014
The deal will see some Carphone Warehouse stores rebranded as Samsung over the next three months
Samsung has signed a partnership with Carphone Warehouse (CPW) that will see it open 60 stand-alone stores across Europe, around 20 of which will be located in the UK.
Under the ‘preferred partner’ agreement, Samsung-branded stores will be rolled out over the next three months across the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and the Netherlands.
CPW said between 20 and 25 will be located in the UK. This will include an unspecified number of CPW stores which will be rebranded as Samsung.
New staff will be appointed – although the company has not yet confirmed whether they will be operating as part of the retailer or the manufacturer.
The layout of the stores will follow that of Samsung’s ‘Experience’ stores, located in large shopping centres such as Westfield. Samsung products on display will include mobiles, tablets, laptops and wearable technology.
It is understood Samsung chose to partner with CPW as it felt it would benefit from its expertise in retail.
The partnership is part of CPW’s ‘Connected World Services’ programme – through which it builds relationships with manufacturers and operators globally to help them achieve market growth.
CPW CEO Andrew Harrison said: “Our Connected World Services business will combine Carphone Warehouse’s retailing expertise and systems with one of the world’s biggest brands.”