Airtel launches its 100th Next-Gen store

Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s leading telecommunications services provider, today announced the launch of the 100^th Next-Gen Airtel store in India with the opening of the new format store at Park Street in Kolkata. Delivering a highly engaging experience to customers, the Next-Gen Airtel stores aims to create excellence in every interaction  with the customer.

The futuristic design and embedded digital technologies in the stores are built on the philosophy of winning customers as friends for life. The Airtel Next-Gen stores have set a new benchmark in customer experience with a focus on long term customer relationship.

 With the opening of the flagship Next-Gen Airtel store at Park Street, three new format stores are now LIVE in Kolkata. Airtel plans to roll out 10 Next-Gen stores across Kolkata and other major cities across West Bengal over the coming months.  

Says Vir Inder Nath, CEO – Retail, Bharti Airtel, “We are delighted to launch our Next-Gen store format in Kolkata and bring the next level of retail experience to our customers. This launch is in line with our obsession to continuously improve the experience for our customers and win them for life with our innovative digital experience. These stores are based on insights from studying thousands of hours of customer traffic and we are confident that these stores will help us create excellence in every interaction we have with our customers.”

The Next-Gen Airtel Stores have been conceptualized by the UK based 8 Inc. The stores are open and minimalistic by design and do away with all barriers between the customer and the brand, and use cutting edge digital technologies to make the customer experience highly interactive through the concept of Share, Create, Experience.

• Share: This is the zone where customers interact with a Social Wall that collates Airtel stories and Airtel customer experiences from across the country on a digital screen. The aim is to inspire customers to imagine the possibilities enabled by the Airtel network.

• Create: A first-of-its-kind, interactive experience allows customers to explore and discover Airtel services. In this zone they can design their own solutions digitally on a Touch Screen Table Top.

• Experience: The new stores have Digital Entertainment Hubs that enable customers to explore and experience Airtel’s digital content offerings – movies, music, Live TV, games and more. The stores also come with Digital Self-Serve zones that allows customers to pay bills, buy a new SIM, all by themselves. In addition, customers can get a first-hand experience of the Airtel network with the Open Network digital wall and give real time feedback.

Airtel has also introduced a new behaviour model for in-store staff to reflect Airtel’s ‘Serve-to-solve’ philosophy that lets staff to focus on solving customer problems. The store staff, referred to as ‘Airtel Friends’ are empowered to deliver a service experience that is expert and warm.

The Next-Gen stores come equipped with Quidini’s virtual queue management platform, which would enable seamless, transparent and timely resolutions at the kiosks. The completely paperless store, also boasts of conversation Hubs, where customers can comfortably have discussions with “Airtel Friends” with regards to their queries.

Next-Gen Airtel stores are part of Project Next – Airtel’s digital innovation program aimed at transforming and simplifying customer experience across all of its services and touch points.