The Carphone Warehouse Group
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The Carphone Warehouse is Europe's leading independent retailer of mobile phones and services, with over 1,700 stores in 10 countries. Outside of the UK including the republic of Ireland, the retailer is known as The Phone House. Now you can shop online at Carphone and grab some fantastic deals with regular sales and monthly offers.
Carphone warehouse History
The Carphone Warehouse Group plc
Charles Dunstone first began selling mobile phones out of his flat on Marylebone Road in 1989. He was 25 years old and had £6,000 of savings to start his business having previous worked at NEC as a sales executive.
It was whilst working at NEC that he first spotted the potential of mobile phones and the future of mobile communications. At that time, handsets were large, cumbersome and mainly purchased by big business and large organisations. Corporate clients were well catered for but small businesses, the self-employed and general public had no-where to go. Charles realised that mobile phones would eventually become ubiquitous and named his company The Carphone Warehouse (CPW) to serve this larger market.
The mobile phone market in the UK quickly expanded and with so many different handset manufacturers and networks offering a huge variety of deals, choosing a mobile phone was a baffling experience for many. From the very beginning, Charles set out to provide great customer service as well as simple and impartial advice in the complex world of mobile phone purchasing.
To facilitate this, Charles drew up Five Fundamental Rules, which even to this day, all CPW employees must learn.
· If we don’t look after the customer, someone else will
· Nothing is gained by winning an argument but losing a customer
· Always deliver what we promise. If in doubt, under promise and over deliver
· Always treat customers as we ourselves would like to be treated
· The reputation of the whole company is in the hands of each individual
Independence and impartiality are still the cornerstones of CPW and from our early days till present day, CPW has always differentiated itself from the competition by sticking to these principles. On most high streets in the UK, a customer can buy a phone from 10 or more different outlets but CPW is the only truly independent retailer and only CPW offers truly impartial advice.
1989-93
The Carphone Warehouse was founded as a UK mobile phone retailer by Charles Dunstone. The company enters a period of rapid organic growth.
1994
The company establishes Carphone Warehouse Insurance to provide an additional value-added service to customers, including the prompt provision of replacement phones.
1996
Under the Phone House brands, the company opens its first stores outside the UK, in Paris and Dublin.
1997
The Phone House launches in Madrid.
1998
The company acquires GEAB Teleshop, a leading independent mobile phone retailer in Sweden, and Comprotoel Groep, a Dutch mobile phone wholesaling and retailing business. Both acquisitions give The Carphone Warehouse a significant presence in their respective markets.
1999
In January 1999, the company acquires the UK business of Tandy, the general electrical goods and mobile phone retailer with 268 stores spread across the UK. The deal transforms the scale of the UK business.
The company acquires 45 stores in France in September via the acquisition of FNAC Telecom, making the French business the leading independent mobile phone retailer in France.
In November the company acquires Polirent, a company with 6 stores in the Lisbon area, as a first move into Portugal. This move is subsequently complemented by three further small acquisitions.
In December, Value Telecom, The Carphone Warehouse’s own network or MVNO, is launched.
2000
In February 2000, the company acquires ACJM SL, a Spanish specialist mobile phone retailer with 46 stores trading under the Viva Voce fascia.
In April the company significantly increases its presence in Germany through the acquisition of Otto Boenicke, a chain of 97 CTN stores.
The company consolidates its market position in The Netherlands through the acquisition of the 20 store Road Phone chain in June.
In 2000 The Carphone Warehouse also acquires Cellcom, a UK provider of billing, customer call and messaging services. This represents its first move into Facilities Management (‘FMS’) and a significant extension of the existing retail strategy.
2001
In May the company continues to build its Telecom Services division through the acquisition of CMC, one of the leading mobile telecoms services businesses in France, which manages over 600,000 customers on behalf of Orange and SFR.
2002
In November 2002 the company announces the acquisition of Opal Telecom PLC, an alternative network operator providing fixed line solutions to the business market.
2003
In February the company launches talktalk, its new residential fixed line telecoms service, as a direct competitor to BT.
In April the company reaches an agreement with Sainsbury’s, the UK supermarket chain, to provide mobile and fixed line services to Sainsbury’s customers. In June the company acquires Hutchison Telecommunications GmbH, a German service provider with over 500,000 subscription customers.
2004
In March we made our first move into the continental European fixed line market with the acquisition of Xtra in Spain. We followed this up with the acquisition of NTel in Switzerland in April, with a view to introducing TalkTalk in a number of countries across Europe by the end of the year
2005
April 1st saw the launch of Mobile World – an industry first mobile service which allows customers to make cheap international calls from a mobile phone. International start from as little as 5p per minute. In December 2005 we acquired two of our major residential fixed line competitors, Onetel and Tele2 UK. As a result we doubled our share of the UK residential market to 10%.
2006
On the 11th April, we were the first company in the UK to launch free broadband to nearly 70% of the UK population. We reached an agreement with Time Warner Inc. to acquire AOL’s internet access business in the UK. As a result of this £370 million acquisition, we became the number 3 broadband provider in the UK.
Vodafone switches its contract business to Phones4U.
Launch of a MVNO in Spain under the brand "Happy Móvil"
2007
Suspension of the Big Brother sponsorship deal.
Roll out of Geek Squad nationwide.
A 3 year £7million X Factor sponsorship deal was signed.
Carphone Warehouse offers free laptop with AOL Broadband.
The Carphone Warehouse joins the FTSE100
2008
Carphone warehouse announces £1.1bn merger with Best Buy
2009
Carphone Warehouse became Britain’s second largest broadband provider after BT after they agreed to pay £236m in cash for the UK assets of Tiscali, the Italian telecoms group. Later the business was later rebranded under the existing TalkTalk brand
2010
Carphone and TalkTalk split to create two separately publicly listed companies
History of the Best Buy Europe Group
The Carphone Warehouse Group was founded in 1989 by Charles Dunstone as a UK mobile phone retailer. In the following eight years, the business grew organically and opened its first branches elsewhere in Western Europe in 1996. From 1998, the business supplemented this organic growth with a series of acquisitions both in the UK and Western Europe and now has a portfolio of 2,453 stores across nine European countries, of which 2,231 are owned and 222 are franchised.
Store numbers at 31 December 2009
In recent years, the Carphone Warehouse Group has established a strong relationship with Best Buy, with strategic co-operation between the two businesses in both the US and European markets. In November 2006, the Carphone Warehouse Group and Best Buy launched Best Buy Mobile, an independent mobile phone retail format for the US market, modelled on the Carphone Warehouse retail format. In March 2007, the CarphoneWarehouse Group and Best Buy launched Geek Squad in the UK, providing 24 hour home technology support services to customers. Geek Squad is now a key component of the Best Buy Europe Group's retail proposition.
In June 2008, Best Buy acquired 50 per cent. of the Carphone Warehouse Group's mobile phone retail and distribution business for £1.088 billion, at which point the business was renamed "Best Buy Europe". Best Buy Europe also benefits from a profit share agreement in relation to Best Buy Mobile.
History of Virgin Mobile France
Virgin Mobile is an MVNO which utilises the Orange network in France. It was launched in April 2006 as a joint venture between the Carphone Warehouse Group (now 47.5 per cent.) and the Virgin group (now 47.5 per cent.), and Financom S.A.S. (now 5.0 per cent.). The MVNO built on the Carphone Warehouse Group's relationship with Orange and the strength of the "Virgin" brand in France to establish the largest MVNO in the French market.
On 14 December 2009, Virgin Mobile France completed the acquisition of Tele2, increasing the customer base to 1.7 million customers, consolidating its presence as the largest MVNO and the fourth largest mobile network in France.
History of Carphone Property and other assets
In 2003, the Carphone Warehouse Group acquired a freehold site in Acton, London, which is the principal Best Buy Europe Group support centre in the UK. This acquisition was supplemented by the acquisition of a vacant mill building in Preston, Lancashire in 2005, which was redeveloped into a customer contact centre. This was followed by further site acquisitions in Acton, London and in Irlam, Manchester, both of which were redeveloped for use by the TalkTalk Group.
The New Carphone Warehouse Group's digital radio investments were made in 2001 and 2002 and its wireless technology investments were principally made at the same time.
Intellectual property of New Carphone Warehouse
The principal intellectual property on which the New Carphone Warehouse Group depends are the brands "The Carphone Warehouse", "The Phone House", "Best Buy" and "Geek Squad".
Partial source: http://www.cpwplc.com