Carphone Warehouse, UK-based mobile phone retail chain, which has made (and lost some of its) name as Talk Talk, a free broadband provider, in the UK is looking to cross the pond and come to the US, to open… a chain of cell phone stores. The company is currently working with Best Buy on a chain called BestBuy Mobiles. Carphone Warehouse, says it will spend about $25 million and open over 200 stores in the US over the next 18 months.
What do you think about the chances of such a business model being successful in the US? CarPhone was one of the really early starters in the UK with such a model and took some time to develop awareness amongst the customers about the value offered by such a model. Given American customer’s current “training” how do you think they will take up to such a value proposition?
CPW and its many competitors over here in the UK are ubiquitous. Talk about homogeneous commoditization. I wouldn’t bet the farm on a tumultuous take-up. Early to the game here was a big help for them, but I don’t see an advantage in the US unless the BB angle is a massive boost. Ask teh average Brit and they’re not that fired up about CPW when any supplier will do. At the end of the day, price is everything.