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Really? The Source is “Canada’s Largest Wireless Retailer”

By on January 29, 2010 at 3:36pm in Asides, Bell Mobility News, Mobile News, Various News

When Bell purchased all 765 locations of The Source back in March last year they dramatically increased their footprint when it came to retail space. Bell also dished out $135 million for the brand and in the process booted Rogers out… this gave them the rights to exclusively only sell Bell products and their “sub-brand” Virgin Mobile in the locations.

The restructuring is well on the way and locations started to sell their wireless devices on January 1st. Looking through their online catalog today and noticed that The Source is branding themselves as “Canada’s Largest Wireless Retailer”. They also quote that they have over 500 locations coast to coast. Which leads me to believe that they have shut a number of locations down.

When comparing to the other big retailers, Best Buy has 68 stores (including Best Buy Mobile stand alone stores) and Future Shop has 144 stores with their dedicated “Cell Shop”. So yes, The Source is the Largest when it comes to the number of locations.

Here’s my question about being the “Largest”, specifically when it comes to retail: Is it more important as a customer to have more stores with a couple brands… or have less locations that offer more selection?

Related posts:

  1. Telus now Canada’s second-largest wireless company in terms of revenue – National Post report
  2. “Fastest & Largest”: Bell vs. Rogers Legally speaking
  3. Currently, Telus has about 5.6 million wireless subscribers, BCE has about 6.2 million and Rogers is Canada’s largest wireless carrier with 7.3 million subscribers.
  4. LG sells 100 million, becomes 3rd largest manufacturer

Discussion

15 comments for “Really? The Source is “Canada’s Largest Wireless Retailer””

  1. less locations with more selections.

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    Posted by jeff | January 29, 2010, 3:39 pm
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  2. +1 jeff.

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    Posted by cass_m | January 29, 2010, 3:49 pm
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  3. Source has spreed its seed too far

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    Posted by Preacher | January 29, 2010, 4:28 pm
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  4. The question is “are they usefull”. Because back then when I went to the Rogers store on Robson St. in Vancouver, they told me to *call* customer service. So what’s the point of having a store if you can’t get service there? As when it comes to pick a phone, non of theirs are functional in the store, so it is just useless.

    Would the source be different?

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    Posted by Hub | January 29, 2010, 4:33 pm
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  5. face to face is key when purchasing or investigating a new phone or service;

    hence location and breadth of location is key,

    more stores the better…!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    Posted by ainyul | January 29, 2010, 6:08 pm
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  6. The “FUTURE of wireless retailing” is Best Buy Mobile. They have all 6 carriers and all of their sales reps are non – commission so they are the only company in Canada coast to coast to offer impartial advice. Just wait till they open stand alone stores across Canada. Oh did I mention that they are are backed by the number 1 WIRELESS RETAILER in the world(CarPhone Warehouse) and the largest electronics company in the world (Best Buy).

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Gonzaga | January 29, 2010, 10:25 pm
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  7. The Source have 500 corporate store and also 250 dealer store, for a total of 750 store… so no store have been close :P

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    Posted by Maximus | January 29, 2010, 10:43 pm
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  8. In regards to Bell and Virgin. If you have a 2 pigs and you dress the one pig as a duck. Does that mean you have a pig and a duck? No, it means you still have two pigs. Virgin and bell, you’re the same damn company. Stop pretending. If virgin gives customers better rates than bell but offers the same service, what is the point of signing with bell?

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    Posted by shaun | January 30, 2010, 5:05 pm
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  9. Agreed w/ Shaun…aren’t they just doing what GM did, shooting themselves in the foot?

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    Posted by AngryChineseDriver | January 30, 2010, 11:27 pm
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  10. Well it looks like there doing ALOT more business since bell moved in.. Who knows for how long tho,.. But most if not all source employees are locked into rogers terms, Bell is offering them something to switch but will only give them $100 to cancel there terms with rogers… HONESTLY i say rogers will not last long as having most customers.. and the source was probably the main if not the only reason they had that title.. even with Rogers now FORCING there employees to get new activations

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    Posted by whothatis | January 30, 2010, 11:45 pm
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  11. @Gozaga – How is Best Buy Mobile better than Wireless Wave? I agree that the idea is better. The Wireless wave people are knowledgeable and have handsets from all the carriers and provide accesories and service for them. What does Best Buy do better?

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    Posted by cass_m | January 31, 2010, 11:12 am
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  12. @cass-m Give in store gift cards… and leak info :) lol

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    Posted by criminalogic | January 31, 2010, 10:40 pm
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  13. @Hub: Most stores will have at least an active iPhone to demo for customers, with the Samsung Omnia II and Blackberry 9700 active in some stores as well.

    @ainyul: They say that by the time you get to a Best Buy or Future Shop, you will have passed two Sources.

    @Gonzaga: Enjoying that kool-aid? Impartial advice is great, if it is useful, but the problem with non-commission sales is that the salesman has little incentive to do well, to go that extra mile for the customer, and to be knowledgable about a product.

    @Maximus: You are correct. Not all stores are carrying wireless, due to lack of coverage. No stores have been closed. There are several being opened soon, in fact.

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    Posted by Source Employee | February 1, 2010, 6:06 pm
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  14. I hate how the Canadian telecom industry has become a competition of who has the biggest pe***.

    Everyone needs to relax with the largest/biggest and “most reliable” claims. Honestly, we don’t care about your size.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    Posted by mobile_finance | February 2, 2010, 10:15 am
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  15. @Source Employee

    RE Handset Demos, Best buy has live iphones, blackberrys(not on display but the reps have them to show people), and milestones.

    RE Commission Vs. Non-Commission
    You say the biggest problem about non-commissioned sales is that the salesman has little incentive to do well and go the extra mile for the customer, but i believe the opposite, the non-commissioned salesperson is more likely to go the extra mile for the customer because they are not worried about how many sales they make in a day, they get paid the same whether they spend an hour with one customer or 15 minutes with 4 customers. I know that i am more likely to spend more less time helping one customer if i know i will get paid more by activating more clients.

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    Posted by Steven Johansen | March 6, 2010, 3:04 am
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