Thread: April Mobile Phone Sales (General)

I haven't used this forum before but after reading people's problems this month I thought I'd give it a go.
Last month I was doing around 300+ Dialaphone sales, 250+ Mobile Republic sales, 150+ MobileShop sales & 50+ TelecomBlue Sales.
I can confirm that sales are dramatically down this month.
You can only presume that in light of the price hikes of April 1st potential customers now have to get used to paying for handsets once again, couple this with Dialaphone's completely uncompetitive offers and the change to vetting orders before confirmation it's no wonder things have changed.
On the flipside, ringtones and other mobile services are as usual.
Fonetastic's new bonus scheme along with some great competitive offers should sway most hardy Dialaphone affiliates to swap links.
RUMOUR: Singlepoint4U are allegedly in talks with Vodafone PLC for a buyout - if this happens online mobile phone affiliation may become a thing of the past.
Bearing in mind that ALL mobile phone retailers utilise Singlepoint4u because of their lower credit thresholds and competitive tariffs there could be a further huge shake-up for the online mobile industry.
PS: This is just hearsay, but cover yourselves just in case, try a new program away from mobile phones.
Hoping things pick up this month,
Andrew
Tech Enterprises

Thanks for the info.

One question

"RUMOUR: Singlepoint4U are allegedly in talks with Vodafone PLC for a buyout - if this happens online mobile phone affiliation may become a thing of the past."

I don't quite understand that - could you explain why that would be.. sorry, is probably a straightforward obvious answer, but surely if option 1 goes, people change to option 2? How would it effect, say O2's affiliate scheme?

Jason

Sorry Jason,
I should have explained more thoroughly - the biggest main reason that Dialaphone are not offering competitive deals this month is down to the fact that they are allegedly no longer being paid an ongoing revenue from Singlepoint4u, this was the first whiff of something suspect.
Dialaphone, TheMobileRepublic, TelecomBlue and most of the other online retailers who offer affiliate programs utilise Singlepoint4u for connections, some do connect enough handsets each month to allow them to deal direct with either Orange or T-Mobile but most use Singlepoint4u for Vodafone & O2. If this rumour of a buyout has some substance then we would be left dealing with the retailers who deal direct with the PCN networks. As far as I'm aware even Dialaphone don't deal direct with T-Mobile after reading a trade article that they won Songlepoint's T-Mobile dealer of the month award last month.
This, as you quite rightly said, leaves us with O2 via CJ.com, Vodafone Direct via Advertising.com and retalers dealing direct with Orange & T-Mobile.
If you use the O2 program you will probably know that they convert once in a blue moon, if you have used Vodafone Direct you will know that they only PPC which leaves the retailers battling it out on Orange & T-Mobile with the one's doing the most connections winning the day.
My personal view on the Oftel decision to step in and demand lower cross network call charges and the resulting hike in handset prices to compensate that loss of revenue for the networks is that it actually plays directly into the hands of the networks, slowly squeezing out the independent retailers who will find it harder and harder to offer competitive deals.
Hope that all made sense,
Andrew
Tech Enterprises

Kinda related to the last post - you say Vodaphone direct does ppc. What network? I'd like me a bit of that...

<em><strong>most of the other online retailers who offer affiliate programs utilise Singlepoint4u for connections</strong></em>

I'm glad you said "most", some of us value our customer service and wouldn't touch Singlepoint with a bargepole. You only need to search the newsgroups for what their customers think of them.

Bearing in mind that 90% of Singlepoint's business is Vodafone I don't think the sale of Singlepoint will affect Orange, O2 or T-Mobile sales very much. Coupled with Three 3G about to hit the Internet and the future looks bright for affiliates.

We're now over a week into April and we're surprised that sales haven't dropped, although the mix of the phone networks has. We're having an excellent month with O2 sales in particular while T-Mobile is very quiet.

I bought a phone 2 days a go from the high street. I had no problem talking the same prices as the month before. I had no problem haggling on those prices, and i had no problem getting a freebie chucked in. When i enquired as to price rises, they told me their only problem at the moment was keeping stock levels high enough for demand. Saved myself £50 over internet prices. :O)

<strong><em>I had no problem talking the same prices as the month before.</em></strong>

If it was one of the many excellent Free Phones you were after (as a self-confessed Freebieholic ) then the phone will probably still have been free. However, whereas last month you'd have got a free DVD Player with it, this month you'll probably only get a free digital camera on the same tariff.

If it was one of the latest phones on Orange, T-Mobile or Vodafone and the price was the same this month as last then the retailer has at best broken even, at worst made a loss on that sale.

The trade prices of the handsets haven't gone up, its the commission that the networks pay retailers that has gone down. This affects every dealer in the country.

With Orange, in particular, if a retailer is £50 less than most internet prices then they've got their prices wrong and they're going to be very unhappy bunnies when they reconcile their commissions in a few weeks time.