Cellular Phones

Two trends in the mobile communications market are coming together to create a critical need for battery testing in retail stores. The first trend is becoming evident for anyone who has had to charge their phone twice or more in one day. The power demands of today’s multi-tasking devices are outstripping the ability of their batteries to deliver, resulting in more batteries failing earlier than expected.

Battery Improvement vs Device Demand
Secondly, customers are increasingly using retail stores as their primary channel to resolve service and equipment issues, driving store owners to seek the right tools to meet their demands.

A New Trend in Wireless Service:

Retails stores used to be places to buy airtime…
With more complicated hardware, the trend is toward customers using the retail store as a place to deal with service issues
Customers are more satisfied when dealing with service issues at a retail store than through other means – phone, mail-in, online, etc.

Up to 90% of all batteries returned by cellular customers claiming they are “bad” are still useful. In many cases, these batteries are simply replaced and discarded at a significant cost.

Cost Savings: A Quick Case Study

During a 1 Month Period with a US Carrier…

10 Stores
2682 Batteries Tested
1981 Good Batteries Saved (74%)
Approximately $30,000 Savings
Payback = < 1 month

Discarded batteries can also be a source of new value and generate additional revenue.

Generating New Value: A Quick Case Study

During a 2 Month Period with a Canadian Dealer…

Tested approximately 12 batteries/day – up to 300 per month
Most batteries that were perceived as bad were actually good – problems were with the handset or other
$630 in new revenue generated by selling refurbished batteries in first 2 months – no materials cost
>$1000 in refurbished battery inventory salvaged from returns
Offer 2 and 3 year extended warranties that include one battery swap – testing is expected to reduce the number of batteries supplied

Testing handset batteries in a retail store yields tremendous value by improving customer care, increasing revenue, and reducing costs. For retail operators, battery testing is a service that will solidify customer loyalty by resolving many common complaints on the spot while also keeping those customers in their store longer, avoiding the uncomfortable situation of being forced to send them to a manufacturer’s service center or technical support line.

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