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* Data will be used to transform store footprint
* CEO Read believes 40% of purchases will be digital
* Read says confident on potential of Unitymedia
(Adds further details, quotes)
By Paul Sandle
DUESSELDORF, Germany, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Vodafone
will shut 15% of its 7,700 stores in Europe and upgrade some of
the remaining outlets as customers buy more online and change
their expectations of in-store shopping, chief executive Nick
Read said on Tuesday.
The group will overhaul its European store estate using data
to give insight into what customers want in each location, with
40% of the stores transformed by the end of 2021, Read said.
Customer service offered by Apple and Amazon
had changed expectations, and Vodafone hopes to improve
its services faster than former incumbent rivals like BT,
Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica with
targeted and personalised marketing, he said.
"If you believe that 40% of your transactions are going to
be digital, then how does that impact why someone goes to a
store. The journeys and the purpose of the store changes," Read
told reporters at a briefing in Duesseldorf, Germany.
"(That) means that we will have more 'experience' stores,
less standard format stores (and) more convenience, and kiosk
and click-to-collect stores."
Read said the group would use new technology such as its
AI-powered chatbot to help customers buy products and services
in just three clicks.
Vodafone, the world's second largest mobile operator,
however, plans to continue store openings in of Britain.
In September, it announced plans to open 24 new franchise
stores in Britain this year, and it is examining the possibility
of opening 50 more stores in 2020 in conjunction with new online
services.
Although Britain is Vodafone's home market, it is not in the
vanguard of Read's plan to create a "gigabit" company centred on
5G mobile, ultrafast cable and fibre broadband, and a European
pay-TV platform second only to Comcast's Sky in customer
numbers.
Germany will be the engine of growth, Read said, with growth
driven by the acquisition of Unitymedia, the largest cable
network in the $22 billion deal to buy Liberty Global
assets, which was completed in July.
"I definitely think (Germany's) the heart of the company,
because it's 40% of the free cash flow," he said. "Now we have a
fantastic asset position in that marketplace."
He said by the 2022 financial year Vodafone's German
broadband network, comprising cable and fibre, would include 25
million premises against 8 million for other fibre providers.
"We have a structural advantage that cannot be closed in any
short-time horizon, which is why we really want to drive
penetration," he said.
Unitymedia was being integrated faster than any other
previous acquisition, he said, with better execution, despite
its significantly larger size.
"We feel very confident on the cost, the capex and the
revenue synergies," he said.
Vodafone is aiming to cut costs by 1.2 billion pounds by its
2021 financial year.
(Editing by Deepa Babington and David Evans)
