Phones 4 U

When a brand pops its clogs, what should happen to its social media presence?

 

This month’s collapse of mobile retailer Phones 4u shows one thing for sure - brand owners should not simply give up on their profiles.

 

When a company dies, its potential in the afterlife does not. Every Twitter account has a value. In the case of a brand like Phones 4u, parts of which are being snapped up by rivals, this is a new kind of value that administrators should now begin to recognise.

 

Phones 4u’s follower base of nearly 38,000 is attractive. Three-quarters of them are active Twitter users, according to our BirdSong data. That means they are still receptive to messaging.

 

In fact, this audience is worth at least £69,000. That is the cost of successfully gaining new followers similar to Phones 4u’s and Carphone Warehouse’s, at $3 per bid, using Twitter’s Promoted Accounts ad feature.

 

Not only should administrators closely examine the value of brands’ social media presence; they have a duty to inform and, where possible, continue serving customers confused at this worrisome time.

 

Phones 4u’s Twitter following has actually grown since it entered administration on September 14, mimicking the trend seen when other brands have suffered disaster, such as Malaysia Airlines, HMV and JJB Sports. 

 

But an increased audience after corporate death isn’t just mawkish rubbernecking of a business car crash - many Phones 4u customers who previously took their ongoing service for granted have likely started following the brand for customer service news.

 

Phones 4u followed the number-one rule best practice rules in situations like these, by tweeting, with feeling, a signpost to the administrators’ statement on the matter.

 

 

This at least communicated news of the company’s downfall to many of the people who care most about it.

 

However, the administrators could do more. That message on September 15 was the company’s final tweet, its online epitaph. The questions of customers about continuation of their services have gone unreplied-to.

 

This contrasts with Phones 4u’s strategy concerning other channels. The company continues to operate a telephone phone line for customer questions, so why not continue engaging on Twitter?

 

And what about the many Phones 4u customers who may not have even seen the company’s important last tweet in their crowded streams at that moment? One way to enhance its handling of the situation would have been to auto-tweet its epitaph regularly, at different times of day, whilst in administration, maximising the chance that customers in need would receive it.

 

Still, Phones 4u’s strategy has been infinitely better than the many brands who simply pull the plug.

 

Last year, the pop group Girls Aloud had 109,000 Twitter followers. Then the band split up, deleting its Twitter account entirely. Becoming what one follower called a “ghost band” deprived the girls and their label of any future opportunity to market still-available archive recordings, a tactic that could have realised ongoing value for both camps.

 

Simply deleting an account also leaves your brand’s name susceptible to squatting. And doing so without first exporting a list of your followers would deprive your company, or its next of kin, a potentially valuable inheritance.

 

Time to get tough on landlords

Lots of social and community wellbeing, economic growth and employment is generated by the High Street. It is essential that our councils and Government act to halt and reverse the deterioration.

The negative effect of too many landlords is crippling too many High Streets, as was reported by Mary Portas, with several recommendations associated with this.

Many of the small businesses in the FSB are operating on these high streets, struggling to make it look attractive. This, whilst less scrupulous business people, often from more affluent areas, gamble on property prices while draining the area of it’s very life force, lowering the property prices.

There should be a responsibility that goes with owning a property on a High Street; sitting on it whilst it goes to “rack and ruin” to make money in the long-run should no longer be an option. Councils should actively and aggressively pursue business rates for unoccupied commercial premises. Not doing so, costs the community doubly, as the council loses funds, and the negligent landlords are not motivated to fill the properties by being charged business rates. Landlords of High Street properties should have a responsibility to have an action plan which aims at the occupation of the commercial part of the property.

This could and should include communication of who to contact to rent the property, the rental price, the standard of the property, and more active options such as allowing the use of the premises for pop-up shop purposes etc.

Allowing the deterioration of our High Streets has to end. And this is even more true of Blackpool and other tourist towns as recreation visitors expect pretty places.

Phones 4U in administration as Vodafone denies acting 'inappropriately'

Phones 4U shops will not open today as the mobile phone retailer goes into administration, blaming decisions by EE and Vodafone to pull out of Phones 4U stores.

Phones 4U is, along with Carphone Warehouse, the UK's major high street mobile phone retailer, employing 5,596 people in 550 stores. Like Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4U sells a range of phones and contracts on various networks, which means that it needs those networks to continue supplying those phones and deals. But the last remaining major networks, EE and Vodafone, have now pulled out of their agreements with the retailer.

O2 and Three had already pulled out earlier this year. "If mobile network operators decline to supply us, we do not have a business," Phones 4U boss David Kassler told the BBC, after EE cancelled its contract with the chain on Friday.

Stefano Quadrio Curzio, of Phones 4U's owner BC Partners, blamed Vodafone in particular, claiming the network's "behaviour appears to have been designed to inflict the maximum damage to their partner of 15 years, giving Phones 4U no time to develop commercial alternatives."

But a Vodafone spokesperson told CNET today that "we strongly reject any suggestion that we behaved inappropriately at any stage during our negotiations with Phones4U," blaming the decision to pull out on the retailer's failure to come up with a "commercially viable" agreement.

A Phones 4U spokesperson has since fired back, telling The Telegraph, "This is a shoddy way for Vodafone to deflect attention from their actions."

The decision by networks to pull out of third-party retailers is motivated by a desire to cut costs as European legislation and the UK's healthy competitive market squeeze profits. Each network has its own chain of high street stores so doesn't rely on sales from partners.

Founded in 1996 by John Caudwell, Phones 4U is now owned by private equity firm BC Partners, which acquired the chain in 2011 in a £610m (€770m) deal. PwC is expected to be appointed as administrator for the troubled business, and will make a decision on whether stores can re-open.

Phones 4U staff have been told to turn up to work today and will continue to be paid for the moment.Dixons Carphone, the parent company of rival chains Carphone Warehouse, Currys and PC World, hasstated on Twitter that it "will be opening up discussions with the administrators to agree what we can do" about securing the future of Phones 4U staff working on "shop-in-shop" Phones 4U stands in branches of Currys and PC World.

If Phones 4U does join Comet in oblivion, that would leave Dixons Carphone stores the last technology shops standing on the high street.

Samsung, which has Samsung Stores in partnership with Phones 4U, says it is "business as usual" at the Samsung Experience Store in Stratford's Westfield shopping centre, and is looking for a new retail partner.

Phones 4U shops closing down across UK

Retailer Phones 4U has gone into administration putting 5,596 jobs at more than 700 outlets at risk.

Accountancy firm PwC has been appointed to see if any of the 560 stores and 160 concessions can be re-opened or sold.

The retailer, owned by private equity firm BC Partners, blamed the decision to shut its shops on mobile network EE's decision not to renew its contract

This followed a similar move from Vodafone earlier in September.

"If mobile network operators decline to supply us, we do not have a business," said Phones 4U boss David Kassler.

The company said established mobile contracts taken out through it would not be affected, although phones ordered and not despatched - for example anyone ordering the new iPhone 6 over the weekend - would be. A customer service line will be open from Monday at 09:00.

In a statement, PwC said: "Our initial focus will be to quickly engage with parties who may be interested in acquiring all or part of the business, and to better understand the financial position and options for the company. The stores will remain closed while we have these conversations.

"We will also be talking to network operators and suppliers, and trying to access funds to pay for the costs of the business, including wages.

"These conversations will determine whether we can re-open stores and trade, and also if and when we can pay the arrears of wages to employees. Our hope is that we will be able to pay all the outstanding wages arrears."