The results from my quick phone recharge survey are in and while one could reasonably argue my survey questions were leading, the results from 137 participants make sobering reading for Optus, Vodafone and Telstra.
I hope the telcos take time to read what newsagents think and what they want. They would be ill-advised to ignore the results.
Newsagents want a better deal when it comes to phone recharge. 100% of respondents said they were unhappy.
Newsagents think the telcos treat them unfairly. 99.3% said they felt unfairly treated.
Newsagents are prepared to walk away from from offering the slim margin service unless margin improves. 31.1% say they plan to move away from selling mobile phone recharge / top-up.
Newsagents want to make more money from mobile phone recharge. 18.2% said they want 8% commission minimum, 28.4% said they want 9% – 10%, 19.3% said they want 11% – 14%, 29.5% want 15% to 19% and 4.5% want 20%.
Click here for a full copy of the survey results and see for yourself.
The question is, are the telcos listening? Will they show that their words of support for newsagents are real or will they show them as hollow?
The only parties the telcos need to deal with are newsagents and their commercial representatives. I’m told they are talking with associations. This makes no sense as the associations have no direct commercial relationship with newsagents. The associations are not marketing groups, franchisors or managing any levers with which to encourage newsagent engagement.
I don’t think they will listen or change. If the 137 newsagents (tiny number in their eyes) who filled in the survey did walk away from recharge it won’t affect their sales. Prepaid users have to buy recharge, THEY DON’T CARE where or how they buy it or how much newsagents make from it. There are so many others (newsagents and convenience stores) who don ‘t care about what commission they make so why would Telstra or Optus care.
I answered we would keep selling recharge as I did see it as a service for our customers that wasn’t a hassle for us, but after an incident on Saturday when the voucher didn’t print and the very bossy impatient woman demanded her money back while I was trying to sort the problem I am now reconsidering whether to keep it or not.
Jenny the margin is too slim for issues like this.