Sainsburys To Launch New Mobile Category

Thu, 23 Nov 2006
 
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Sainsbury's is going head to head with rival supermarket chain Tesco in a bid to launch its very own mobile phone brand .

Head of their mobile electrical department, Rob Cooke, arranged a supply deal with Data Select in order to get a foothold in the market sector. Mr Cooke joined the Sainsbury’s team after leaving Woolworths in May.

Mr Cooke is understood to be looking at possible options of teaming up with other networks . The retailer is currently supplied by Carphone Warehouse who supply them with some prepay lines as well as TalkTalk for fixed line and broadband deals.

Carphone’s level of supplied stock for Sainsbury's is expected to be between 20,000 and 30,000 units by December, while new addition Data Select is expected to account for around 120,000 of the stock .

Rival Tesco are expected to take a 5 per cent share of the prepay market by selling an estimated 1.1 million prepay handsets this year which overshadows Sainsbury’s expectation of just 250,000 to 300,000 handsets .

The handsets that are set to boost the retailer’s status in the mobile phone industry are two phones by Sagem. Data Select are going to supply these handsets which are set to go on the market at prices ranging from £29.99 for the myC4-2 (T Mobile), to £49.99 for the my501C (Virgin). The models have been dispatched to 500 Sainsbury's stores.

The last two years has seen poor sales at the company’s stores, while rivals Asda and Tesco have profited considerably. The news of the new contract has pleased company officials who have described it as 'the jewel in the crown' for Carphone's indirect operation.

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