topic Re: Special Announcement Revealed! in Announcements

Special Announcement Revealed!

Alan_K — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:11:06 GMT

Hey Community,

A couple weeks ago, we let you know that we had a special announcement coming soon and since then, we’ve enjoyed reading all of your comments about what it might be. As much as we’d love it to be a hot slice of pizza in the mail or a free Samsung Galaxy S10+ (thanks for the suggestion @Pizzaeh), we think the hype matches the announcement. Cue the drum roll please…

Starting this spring, we will begin to launch our own branded kiosks across Canada. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, (which many of you correctly guessed @NDesai, @dna2016, @Knockali - look out for your *winning prize*), we think it's important to tell you why we’re making this change. In 2017, we began expanding our business model from selling SIMs solely online to retail partners like Wal-mart and WOW! Mobile to name a few, in order to give more Canadians the ability to find, buy and activate Public Mobile. We wanted to ensure that everyone had easy access, not only online but in person at a retail location near you. With the launch of our own kiosks, we are continuing to build on these efforts while maintaining our focus on giving Canadians more choice on where and how they purchase and service their wireless needs.

As we continue to evolve, our vision remains the same: we’re focused on doing wireless differently; offering all Canadians more choice, freedom and value on Canada’s largest mobile network.

Have more questions? We have more information below. Have any suggestions on how we should celebrate this significant milestone? Leave us a comment.

The Public Mobile Team

FAQ

How many kiosks are you opening and where?

Right now, we have plans to launch up to 15 kiosks in 2019. These kiosks will be nationwide, though the exact mall locations for all of the kiosks are yet be determined and will be announced closer to the time.

The first four that are confirmed to open this Spring are in Galeries D’Anjou (Montreal, QC), Edmonton CIty Centre (Edmonton, AB), Marlborough Mall (Calgary, AB) and Richmond Centre (Richmond, BC).

Why have you changed your strategy?

Our strategy has changed to reflect the growing prepaid market and needs of Canadians where transactions predominantly happen in retail. That said, our mission has and will always remain the same: to do wireless differently and give Canadians more control on their wireless, through more choice and flexibility while making no compromises on the things that matter most: value and good network experience.

Why open kiosks and not full-blown corporate stores?

We’re opting for kiosks rather than big corporate stores because we felt this approach better aligns with our overall business model of providing a no frills experience at a low cost on a great network. We even took our frugal, no frills model into the design process of the kiosks. We look forward to sharing design details with you closer to launch.

Will you sell devices?

At this time, no. However, we are always looking at ways to continue to improve the customer experience.

Will store representatives at kiosks provide customer support?

While our store representatives will assist customers activating on Public Mobile, we will continue to offer customer support online.

I love Public Mobile! Can I work at the kiosk?

We love you too! And yes, calling all Public Mobile brand ambassadors to apply. Check out our job page for all the deets and to see if a kiosk is launching in a mall near you.

https://telus.taleo.net/careersection/publicmobile/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

denis2 — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 15:50:14 GMT

Thats great, will give more exposure to Public Mobile, I hope the extra costs wont bring the prices up

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

dna2016 — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 15:58:02 GMT

I KNEW IT. Makes sense, because I don't see anything else getting that type of hype beforehand. As long as it's a kiosk and not a retail location, too much money to lease out a brick & mortar, just ask HBC and Sears about that.

I think this is a good idea, I think strategically looking at where to have kiosks set up is going to be the interesting part. Hi traffic malls will have big leases attached to it. This is going to be interesting to see where this leads to as well (i.e. more advertising). This is good, so that customers can finally not have to fight with those Walmart reps for a $10 SIM card.

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

Lieux — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:51:05 GMT

Finally!!!!

Interesting I can't wait to see what this will give and especially when there will be one in my city!!

And I hope the staff will not oblige anyone to activate at the kiosk the sim card we just bought!!

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

FBR — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:06:57 GMT

Does this mean a staff at the kiosk can resolve a problem for a customer faster? Compared to using the moderator team here?

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

ShawnC13 — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:07:15 GMT

Thanks for the reveal @Alan_K , I wonder when I kiosk will be near me. Part Time job at night could make more than community rewards lol. I see this as PM evolving into more of a mainstream provider and not on the fringe from when I joined. I just hope this doesn't mean higher costs coming down on us the end user.

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

mimmo — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:11:53 GMT

@FBR wrote:
Does this mean a staff at the kiosk can resolve a problem for a customer faster? Compared to using the moderator team here?

No support is still done via community. Maybe they will offer a computer for customers to interact in the community when at the kiosk, or allow staff to teach customers on the community.

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

Camelia_M — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:16:47 GMT

Hi @FBR,

The store representatives will be able to help out with the activation process, all other issues will be handled thru the community 🙂

Camelia_M

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

CellGirl — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:16:55 GMT

Awesome news 🙂

Ensure there's a kiosk in the Oshawa/Whitby area 😄

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

popping — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:28:27 GMT

Great choice for the Marlborough Mall location in Calgary. It is not a high end mall like the Chinook Mall or Market Mall. It fits the PM no frill model. The Marlborough Mall WM mobile store just need to tell the new subscribers to buy SIM at the nearby PM kiosk. lol

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

SD08 — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:46:56 GMT

Thanks for letting us know, Alan.

One thing I'd definitely expect from these kiosks: Unlike at Walmart, customers should definitely be able to get SIMS without being forced to activate in-store.

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

will13am — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:41:39 GMT

I thought I would see price increasing coming hidden in the spoiler. I suppose with the competing prepaid brands having stores, it is hard to compete effectively with online only. Being able to work effectively with the current service model, I can't say that I am excited by this announcement. On the less selfish side, I am happy to see Public Mobile expanding as this is testimony that the market likes the brand.

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

Lieux — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:57:38 GMT

@Camelia_M I don't understand...why the staff would not help the customers with problems??? They will not be trained in public mobile site and problems?

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

wickedgx — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:01:58 GMT

Intresting business decision. I hope they expand in Ontario in the future.

Also sadface that it's not an annouancement for current customers but still good for the overall brand of Public Mobile.

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

cavemantoronto — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:07:54 GMT

Own kiosk meaning under Public name but all corporate or franchised out?

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

NDesai — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:16:44 GMT

That's awesome. Hard to believe we now have this when we had nothing about 2 years ago. PM have done a great job to expand and create awareness of this brand. I can only hope for better things to come....

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

FBR — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:32:02 GMT

@mimmo wrote:
@FBR wrote:
Does this mean a staff at the kiosk can resolve a problem for a customer faster? Compared to using the moderator team here?
No support is still done via community. Maybe they will offer a computer for customers to interact in the community when at the kiosk, or allow staff to teach customers on the community.

If the kiosk staff is being paid wages from public mobile, I think it would make sense to give them power or admin rights to fix problems on the spot, rather than direct them to the community forums.

This is just my opinion.

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

dararara — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:51:07 GMT

So now there will be people who are not very tech literate seeing Public Mobile kiosks outside, thinking it’s something good, signing up for it. And then when they have a problem, they’ll be on their own, and they’ll have to waste a lot of time trying to figure out how all of this community thing works. You’re trying to “compete” with Chatr and Lucky, but you’re forgetting that they provide customer service over the phone for the same price. Public Mobile should just stay underground where only the people who know how things work would know about it.

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

denis2 — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:50:48 GMT

They will not be on their own, the community is there, only on line instead og on hold, oups i mean on phone

Re: Special Announcement Revealed!

smp99 — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 17:53:46 GMT

I hope the Kiosk staff will know the difference between activating in store or online. Or maybe the promos can read "Activate online OR at one of our NEW kiosks"

This is a good move - but if all they are doing is selling SIMS, I can see a lot of downtime.

I'm not sure this announcement required a 2 week teaser thread.