Since we launched we’ve had many requests via our Idea’s Board for us to offer handsets – and they’ve been getting more frequent as time goes by.
We’ve always said “not suitable” or “not for us” – so why was that?
Selling SIM free handsets is tough because the cost price of the handset is often the same or even below the price the market sells it for – so it would be really hard for us not to lose money on the sale.
And selling traditional pay monthly contracts has never felt right – too often they tie an attractive price for hardware to an expensive contract. It’s just not how we roll…
So what’s changed our minds?
Well, a while ago myself and the team spent some time calling up members who’d left giffgaff – and we found that the vast majority of them still loved giffgaff but were leaving because they needed a new handset.
Combine that with growing demand via our Ideas Board (we’ve had over 50 in the last few months alone) and we reached the conclusion that we had to find a way to offer handsets – but without doing traditional contracts or costly SIM free sales.
So that’s what we’re going to do - we’ve spent the last few months investigating how we might go about it - talking to logistics suppliers, handset vendors, finance specialists etc. It’s a huge project that will take months to complete – and we’re going to need your help…..
What’s next?
As you’d expect – we won’t be doing handsets in quite the same way as everyone else so your input along the way will be vital.
Kim & the community team have been very busy working on the project plan and how to take our community through the ins & outs of it all, one of his first challenges is to define the site experience.
So stay connected, Kim will be sharing details of his first challenge on Wednesday Thursday and it will be the first of many in the weeks and months ahead – and if you want to start the discussion now head over the Off Topic section of our community where a special handsets thread has just been opened up.
(Update June 5th: Hey all, it's Timo. We're going to be pushing the first consultation back a day to make some space for another exciting announcement from Kim today.)
