US wireless giant Motorola Inc yesterday opened its first "Global Flagship Store" in downtown Shanghai.

 

The shop is part of Motorola's marketing drive in the world's largest mobile phone market.

 

It is part of the company's worldwide initiative to offer a personalized service to consumers and increase their awareness of the Motorola brand.

 

In the coming months, the wireless giant plans to launch three similar shops in Beijing, Chengdu and Guangzhou, with stores in additional key locations throughout Asia and around the world to follow.

 

"Chinese consumers are as sophisticated as any consumers in the world," said Michael Tatelman, Motorola corporate vice-president and general manager, Mobile Devices, North Asia.

 

The flagship store features a unique, interactive layout, highly trained staff and phone customization and demonstration kiosks.

 

Its design is based around fun, with opportunities for users to personalize their handsets with laser etching and "phone tattoos," as well unique in-store training programs and on-site factory authorized technicians.

 

"Launching these stores in China not only gives us the opportunity to become the brand of choice for China's sophisticated consumers, it also gives us a unique opportunity to hone our retail concept for markets worldwide," said Tatelman.

 

Beyond the flagship stores themselves, Motorola plans to take advantage of the modular nature of the first store's design to launch "store-in-store" shops, kiosks, and non-flagship stores.

 

Motorola has long been the top mobile phone maker in China. But a slow revamp of its sales channels, especially in smaller cities, allowed archrival Nokia to seize its handset crown in 2004.

 

The company says it will spend tens of millions of dollars in two years revamping its retail channels and opening 500 branded stores in third- or fourth-tier cities in China.

 

With the use of mobile phones in China's big cities reaching saturation point, extending presence to small cities and eventually the countryside has become crucial for Motorola and Nokia.

 

"Motorola's goal with the flagship stores is nothing short of the reinvention of mobile retail culture and the transformation of the consumer experience," said Tatelman.

 

"Our mission has always been to help people realize their human potential through the power of technology."

 

By the end of May there were 421 million mobile phones subscribers in China an increase of 27.39 in a year according to the Ministry of Information Industry (MII).

 

Jeremy Dale, vice-president of retail marketing for Motorola, said the worldwide initiative to launch branded stores will help "drive overall sales of the entire Motorola product family."

 

(China Daily July 14, 2006)