TL:DR - You Stores Suck, and Customers Hate Them

A friend of mine posted an epic rant on LinkedIn the other day about his experience with a telco. He’d lost his phone, and visited his nearest telco store to get sorted. Except he didn’t, and the tale is so horrific it’s actually comical. I’ll post a link below so you can go see.

A new survey by The Retail Insider states that 75% of telecoms customers are frustrated by long customer service wait times and poor resolutions.

That’s where the sofa comes in. Look at it. Comfy? Practical? A small table is there if you need to put something down. A charging point is there for you if you are running low.

Yet, tell me the furniture you see in your local telco retail store? My friend summed it up beautifully;

“I was offered a seat on a couch that was designed exclusively for hobbits or small humans.”

Later, moving to a transaction station, he was “Invited to sit on a quaint school chair”.

TL:DR - stop designing stores that look like libraries or classrooms. Understand that the world has changed, TELECOMS has changed, and get with the program.

Store Design in Telecoms - A History

In my last article, I talked about the move from Transactional to Magical, and what that means. You can find that post HERE.

In the old days - and I mean the OLD days, retail was all we had. Hence a good retailer would pack their store with ITEMS, which you, the customer would select, and then take home with you.

With the rise of internet shopping and home delivery, if I wanted such a transactional experience I would simply click from my online store, and it would be with me very soon. Yet how many retailers still pile their “wares” around the perimeter of the store and try to TRANSACT with you like the old days? Lots.

Today, especially in assisted sales environments like consumer electronics and telecoms, your customers use retail stores for a very different reason.

• They can’t work something out and they want a real person to help them

• They are not sure what they want to buy, so they want to try out a few things in person

• The category they are buying is complex, and they want a human to help guide them to the best options

Sure, a lot of people live in city centres and near shopping malls and high streets, and retail is still a convenience for them, but these types of transactions are becoming less and less.

Retail Design is Evolving

In the early 2000’s - your typical telecom retail store was WHITE, BRIGHT and looked more akin to a spaceship - emphasizing the technology.

Yet SO MANY telecoms companies still have this design, and it sucks.

The technology has been with us now for over 20 years. We know it. It’s a part of our life, our daily life. So we don’t need it thrust at us.

Instead the good trend to follow has been to “downplay” the technology, and to ramp up the COMFORT inside the retail store. Yet this trend has seen very few takers.

The tech has also evolved. Most telcos now sell some sort of converged telecoms product in addition to the core wireless category. Fixed line, broadband, fibre, ipTV, cable solutions, streaming services - you name it - we are a quad play world now, with newer categories like home security also exploding in popularity.

So what does this mean for the design? Well, it means you may need more than one thing. You may want to try something out. You may want to try out things and discuss 2 or 3 categories. Perhaps try on a new pair of smart glasses or a gaming console for your family that you can add to your account.

Complexity = time.

Time spent on a “quaint old school chair” or a “sofa made for Hobbits” is not COMFORTABLE.

If you are not COMFORTABLE, you will not buy.

So, How to Fix It?

It’s possible, and much easier than you think.

Full blown brand led store design projects can cost a million dollars. No, really. Yet a STORE DESIGN FIX can re-program your customer journeys, and add in items that allow the dwell time.

I talked to a major player in the wireless scene in the USA market recently, one of the worst market culprits of BAD CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE on the planet. I was telling him about the “telecoms barista” concept (another old article of mine - hit me up to hear more) and he had surveyed 10,000 wireless stores across America and seen ONE existence of a coffee machine. The epitome of “pile em high - sell em quick” - no wonder that market is renowned for truly dreadful service.

Here’s your list;

1) The sofa, or as I call it “The Telecoms Sofa”. Not too low that you can’t get back out of it, big enough to sit multiple customer groups, multi-functional, and comfortable. Somewhere you can TRANSACT too, that’s if your awful legacy system stack allows you to use a tablet for the paperwork, which should be digital and not paper anyways haha!

2) The coffee machine - self explanatory. You are not dispensing 100 cups a day and turning into a free Starbucks. You are offering customers who need to sit some comfort. Not self service. You offer them, and bring to them. Like you would offer someone who came to your house a cup of tea (if you’re British like me!).

3) The water fridge - again you are not feeding the 5,000 - you are helping people become COMFORTABLE. Don’t open it up to the masses, but in hot climates, do give people who have to sit a while the chance to relax.

4) FREE wifi. Indoor cell signal is garbage. Most wifi providers just want your details for marketing purposes, then try to SPAM you with things you are not interested in. Don’t do that. Just give good, free, QUICK TO ACCESS wifi. Simples.

Conclusion

2026 needs to be the year I see the rise of the “Telecoms Sofa”. And the coffee machine, the water fridge and the free wifi.

What else are YOU trying to do in order to increase dwell time, and in turn improve NPS and your rate of accessory attachment and upsell conversions?

Tell me. I hope you liked my rant today.

Till next time - Will x

p.s. The link to my friend’s LinkedIn rant is HERE. Enjoy it!