Dixons Carphone is one of the UK"s largest retail groups, as well as being one of Europe"s top retailers of mobile hardware and services, with operations in 11 countries. The group has enjoyed considerable success in the UK with its Carphone Warehouse and Currys PC World retail brands, and it"s now going to be applying some of its knowledge and experience in the hotly-contested US market.
Dixons Carphone announced today that it has agreed a partnership with US carrier Sprint, with plans to open hundreds of retail stores.
Under the first phase of the collaboration, Dixons Carphone says that it "will supply mobile phone retail expertise and proprietary knowledge to Sprint who will open approximately 20 retail stores." Depending on the success of that rollout, the two companies will massively expand the scope of their partnership, opening up to 500 stores across the United States.
Despite Dixons Carphone and Sprint each holding a 50% share of the new venture, all of the stores will be branded and operated by the carrier. The British company says it "will also provide support across the whole of the Sprint estate as part of a wider know-how sharing arrangement."
Andrew Harrison, CEO of Dixons Carphone"s Connected World Services (CWS) division, said today:
This is a very exciting venture for us, and is a significant step in growing our CWS business in the US. We bring specialist knowledge and skills to this partnership and will be looking to deliver innovation and outstanding customer service under the Sprint brand.
The companies haven"t outlined a delivery scheduled for their plans, so it"s not yet clear when or where the first of the co-developed stores will open.