Telstra is Australia’s leading telecommunications company, with more than 370 stores across the country.I had the pleasure of hosting members of the team back in January at the National Retail Federation convention to demonstrate how they’ve embraced Windows 10 to create an innovative store environment at their flagship Discovery Stores in Melbourne and Sydney. These new stores blend online and offline worlds so customers can interact with Telstra when, where, and how they choose.
As many of us have experienced in traditional telecommunications retail, some processes seem cumbersome and overly time-consuming. Having worked at two major telecommunications companies in the past, I am particularly aware of this challenge. So Telstra set out with two basic goals in mind: make it simple and make it fast. The solutions had to be easy for staff to learn to use and help both associates and customers complete tasks quickly. As with many modern retailers, Telstra also wanted to solve for the fact that an increasing number of shoppers love to browse in-store, compare devices, check out specs and prices, but then go online later to continue their research before ultimately making a purchase.
“Last year we saw more than half our service transactions were digital, which has given us the opportunity to think big and redefine the role of our physical stores”
— Andrew Smith, Director of Retail Operations, Telstra
In addition to meeting their basic goals for simplicity and speed, Telstra has introduced a highly interactive and engaging experience throughout the store. A key part of this solution was implementing Windows 10 and the Universal Windows App Platform, which allowed Telstra to develop and deploy engaging and adaptable content and applications across a broad range of devices and displays throughout the store, where customers browse, test, learn and compare products and services to help them in the decision-making process.
By using the new solution, Telstra has seen a 39 percent increase in customer engagement.
Built with Telstra’s partner Engagis, the Windows 10 solution enables customers to use innovative “tap and take” cards, which use near field communications (NFC) to help customers build a personalized digital brochure by simply tapping the card on their selected product or service on digital kiosks in store. Each card has a unique code which enables the customer to access the personalized information online, review, consider and complete the transaction at their leisure. Telstra also uses Microsoft Power BI to analyze customer traffic and offer a better mix of products.
“With this new customer experience and system improvements, our aim is to reduce the average wait times for customers to around
three minutes. This will enable us to drive more sales, serve more customers and importantly, improve their in store experience with us. Windows 10 is a great platform for helping our people use small and large devices to be faster, more efficient and provide that seamless customer experience we’re aiming for,” said Smith.
“Telstra store staff plan to also using Surface devices to replace desktop PCs, so that they can more efficiently allow payments to be processed from anywhere in the store without having to return to dedicated point of sale area. Over the next few years, Telstra intends to roll out more than 5,000 Surface devices across its store network.
With its Sydney and Melbourne Discovery stores, Telstra has transformed its retail environment and created a solution so that customers can have a seamless and personalized shopping experience. I love to see all the fascinating ways that our retail partners are leveraging the power of Windows 10 to transform the way we shop in-store and online. Learn more about Windows industry solutions for Retail.
