Exceed expectations: Costco

Who would have thought a membership warehouse strategy coupled with high-quality goods and well-paid employees would be such a hit with consumers? Costco is re-writing the script on big box retail. From tires to Toblerone, Costco has a little of everything and consumers are willing to pony up big bucks in membership fees and sales in those bare bones, cavernous warehouses. Why? Because Costco not only offers the basics, with its well reported rigorous quality standards, the things people buy at Costco exceed basic expectations. Even within those huge industrial buildings, shoppers know each item has been hand-picked for the Costco Member, and those choices keep them coming back. 

Last year, T-Mobile re-invented itself as the “UnCarrier” with a bold new plan to take the device out of the contract, which according to Kristin Paulin, Senior Analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media, was a big step for the wireless industry.

“When it comes down to it, T-Mobile had been bleeding customers and needed to turn that trend around. This strategy has been foremost about gaining market share,"  Paulin says. “T-Mobile vowed to 'not act like a wireless carrier', to 'end two-year sentences,' meaning service contracts, and 'side' with the customers,” Paulin says. “T-Mobile's UnCarrier strategy really did revolutionize the U.S. wireless market by separating the device from the contract.”

She adds that, in general, U.S. carriers want to move away from the subsidy model because removing device subsidies increases profitability.

“With device financing the subscriber pays the full price of the device through monthly payments, rather than a much lower price that is subsidized by carriers,” Paulin says.

It's time for mobile service providers to engage their customers with a brand. Not a gimmick, not technical jargon no one understands, but to connect with them on a human level. From aligning with their deepest aspirations to reinventing the way they view your service, there are many examples of how CSPs can begin to sell more than connectivity and build lasting, meaningful customer relationships—and profits--in the bargain.