Just in time for the holidays, the carrier Telstra is prepared to go toe-to-toe with big names in the technology industry, such as Microsoft, Apple and HP, to name a few, opening an interactive flagship store Discovery in Melbourne.
The interactive retail store is located at the corner of Swanston and Bourke streets in Melbourne Central, and it will feature a café with an in-store barista, which is expected to serve about 80 free cups of coffee a day.
[NEWS] Telstra invites Melbourne to Discover with innovative new flagship store https://t.co/FSDipLcTzs
— Telstra_news (@Telstra_news) November 30, 2015
Shoppers will be able to get their hands on an extensive range of products from tech accessories to popular devices, including the latest tablets, computers, security cameras, home controllers, drones, headphones, wireless speakers and many more.
"We're really excited to be launching Melbourne Discovery in a city that loves tech, bringing together our world-class technology and innovative service experience for Melbourne customers. More than ever, it's a store that makes a personal connection between people and technology," Andrew Coull, executive director of Telstra Country Wide, says.
At the store, customers will find Tap and Take touch tables, which are fitted with high-resolution multi-touch displays. To get comprehensive details about a particular device, shoppers will just have to place it on top of the table, and they'll be able to get a comparison by placing a similar device next to the first one. Telstra intends to implement this amenity to each and every store it owns.
"We are really trying to set a new standard for how we serve customers, how we connect them and how we educate them," Coull says.
Compared with traditional stores, Telstra believes that its new interactive boutique will draw in twice the number of customers this Christmas, which is estimated to be about 5,000.
Steven Noble, a tech analyst, suggests that the carrier's recent development is a huge leap toward the progress of the Internet of Things, which will connect most home appliances to the Internet in the future.
"We have forecast the internet of things at home to grow 11-fold by 2019," Noble tells the Sydney Morning Herald.
The carrier, however, would not disclose how much it invested to make the new outlet happen, but Coull notes that features that prove to be successful will be deployed across the Telstra network.
"Today, more than half of our service transactions are digital and so it's important we provide our customers the choice of when, where and how they interact with us," Coull notes in the news release.
