A few months back, i walked into a mobile phone store somewhere around highbrow Victoria Garden City (VGC) in Lagos (Nigeria) and requested for a particular model of the Tecno phone brand.
The words were barely out of my mouth when the store attendant – with an air of superiority – dismissed my inquiry with a “we don’t sell such phones here” response. True, because when i looked round the store, i could only see mid to high end phones from popular manufacturers like Samsung and Nokia.
I walked out quietly.
A few weeks later, I was in this same store but this time, in search of a case for my Samsung Galaxy Tab Tablet. To say I was shocked was an understatement. There, conspicuously displayed on the shelves of the store were a line-up of phone models from – not only Tecno – but other mid tier manufacturers like Infinix and a couple of other manufacturers that i can not readily recall.
So what gives? What has changed? Unfortunately, the pompous attendant was nowhere to be found for me to pose my questions to him.
2 comments
Chuks
Signs of the times – the times when the customer, not the business owner, is king. “Everyone” is in business because of the customer. If his needs aren’t being met and alternatives exist, the owner loses out, so to speak. The owner could either be the phone manufacturers or the operator of the mobile phone shop. In this case, it’s the operator of the mobile phone shop. If the attendant you met previously was being truthful and Infinix and the other brands later introduced were among the “such phones” group, obviously someone within the system realises that the customer and cash are king.
Noni
Aha Wale, you need to go back and ask re “pompous attendant” now 😀
I guess the owners realised they needed to cater to as many potential customers like you who came in to ask. People like you are probably the reason for the introduction of not only Tecno, but other models.