3GScottishUser
1st July 2005, 05:26 PM
From Mobile (01/07/2005):
3s pledge not to undercut channel partners through its direct operations came into question this week as its website hosted a series of deals the trade could not match.
The deals all based on the operators Talk & Text 200 tariff undercut independent deals by so much a retailer could lose up to £80 trying to match them.
Dealers told Mobile they would lose between £30 and £80 per sale if they attempted to offer the same terms to customers on the sale of certain handsets on Talk & Text 200.
Although discounted sales from the internet are routine for the Big Four where sometimes even an operators own stores cannot match the pricing offered online a level-playing field has been a major plank of 3s bid to woo dealers.
Last September, at 3s circus-themed Greatest Show on Earth dealer event, sales director Marc Allera (right) told the assembled retailers: We wont be undercutting you like the other networks. You wont see three-month half-price line rental as a network offer, then us offering six months in our own stores. You wont see us offering exclusives off the page and online.
Allera told Mobile that the operator was still committed to not undercutting dealers: We are currently running an offer on Talk & Text 200 on certain handsets; this price plan is a very small portion of our market and the specific offer were running is only available on our website. Obviously with all our best-selling price plans 3 does not offer anything the dealers cant match or better, unlike the old networks.
He added: You have to look at it in perspective. The vast majority of anyones business is on Talk & Text 600 and above on any handset on that tariff or above I dont believe there are any margin issues for a dealer pricing against the web. Where the action is, theres no issue. This is an isolated incident on our low-end tariffs. They are not a volume play for anybody.
Whole Article Here (http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/artman-test/publish/article_506.shtml)
3s pledge not to undercut channel partners through its direct operations came into question this week as its website hosted a series of deals the trade could not match.
The deals all based on the operators Talk & Text 200 tariff undercut independent deals by so much a retailer could lose up to £80 trying to match them.
Dealers told Mobile they would lose between £30 and £80 per sale if they attempted to offer the same terms to customers on the sale of certain handsets on Talk & Text 200.
Although discounted sales from the internet are routine for the Big Four where sometimes even an operators own stores cannot match the pricing offered online a level-playing field has been a major plank of 3s bid to woo dealers.
Last September, at 3s circus-themed Greatest Show on Earth dealer event, sales director Marc Allera (right) told the assembled retailers: We wont be undercutting you like the other networks. You wont see three-month half-price line rental as a network offer, then us offering six months in our own stores. You wont see us offering exclusives off the page and online.
Allera told Mobile that the operator was still committed to not undercutting dealers: We are currently running an offer on Talk & Text 200 on certain handsets; this price plan is a very small portion of our market and the specific offer were running is only available on our website. Obviously with all our best-selling price plans 3 does not offer anything the dealers cant match or better, unlike the old networks.
He added: You have to look at it in perspective. The vast majority of anyones business is on Talk & Text 600 and above on any handset on that tariff or above I dont believe there are any margin issues for a dealer pricing against the web. Where the action is, theres no issue. This is an isolated incident on our low-end tariffs. They are not a volume play for anybody.
Whole Article Here (http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/artman-test/publish/article_506.shtml)