*OPENING AND RIBBON CUTTING AT NEW SHAW COMMUNICATIONS STORE. PHOTO: SHAW COMMUNICATIONS*

By Mario Toneguzzi

While the retail sector faces enormous challenges with many closures, Shaw Communications is going in the opposite direction as it aggressively invests in more retail locations to support the launch of Shaw Mobile in British Columbia and Alberta.

WESTERN CANADA STORE EXPANSION COMES AT THE SAME TIME AS INTRODUCTION OF ‘SHAW MOBILE’

The company recently announced the launch of Shaw Mobile — a new wireless service in Canada that leverages Shaw’s Fast LTE and Fibre+ network to provide Shaw Internet customers with an innovative wireless experience that can virtually eliminate their monthly wireless data bill.

Customers can learn more about Shaw Mobile by visiting one of 20 Shaw retail locations across Alberta and B.C., including 12 new and enhanced stores in high-traffic shopping centres to be opened by the end of the summer. Shaw Mobile will also be available at over 120 locations of the company’s largest national retail partners across B.C. and Alberta.

SHAW STORES HAVE BEEN REDESIGNED TO CREATE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

Shaw stores have been redesigned to provide customers with an immersive destination where they can explore, learn, and interact directly with the latest Shaw products and services, including Shaw’s suite of in-home technology. All stores are designed with physical distancing in mind and will continue to adhere to applicable health and safety protocols to keep customers and employees safe.

Shaw is creating 64 net new jobs as part of its retail expansion in Alberta and B.C.

SLIDESHOW (swipe)

INTERIOR OF SHAW COMMUNICATIONS STORE. PHOTOS: SHAW COMMUNICATIONS

It’s interesting to note that more than 90 percent of all wireless activations occur in person at a retail setting in Canada.

“We recognize that Shaw is in a unique position being so aggressive in investing in retail in Canada and we’re very certain that’s the right strategy. As a result, landlords as partners have given us the best spots in all the best malls and we’re confident that we’re going to be driving great traffic to the Shaw stores with these new formats,” said Pat Button, Senior Vice-President, Sales and Distribution for Shaw.

“Of this new format, we’ve opened four and have another half dozen in the pipeline over the next few weeks. We just launched Shaw Mobile so we created a new format to properly position Shaw Mobile along with the wireline products and most specifically our unique value proposition. We have a Shaw Go WiFI product with 450,000 hotspots that comes with your Shaw Mobile or your Shaw internet product.

“It’s right in the middle of the store to help customers understand that it’s a value add for both products. So we built the store to actually have that flow in mind.”

The company also retrofitted eight of its existing Shaw retail locations to be able to sell a mobile product. Over the next six weeks, it will add another 10 locations.

The CF Market Mall location, which opened last week in Calgary, is about 2,500 square feet, the largest one currently for Shaw. The stores’ footprints range from about 900 square feet to about 2,500 square feet.

At the current time, the Shaw Mobile product is available only in Alberta and British Columbia.

Shaw has street locations as well as mall locations for its retail operations.

“The wireless category as a whole because of the nature of a high fraud component to it, so the nature of the credit check process and the ID verification, the majority of sales happen at retail. So right now approximately 90 percent of all activations happen at a retail store. It’s very strong and going forward it’s a very strong channel,” said Button.

“So Shaw is definitely embracing investing in retail this year and for the years going forward. We’re going to continue expanding. I can’t speak to an exact number but we’re going to be very aggressive over the next 12 months adding Shaw stores as we expand our Shaw Mobile strategy.”

Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary has 37 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, city and breaking news, and business. For 12 years as a business writer, his main beats were commercial and residential real estate, retail, small business and general economic news. He nows works on his own as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Email: mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.

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