By Chris Nicholls
MELBOURNE: BSR Group is set to roll out a new ‘store within a store’ concept for all its IT products, with a pilot program being trialled in conjunction with internet and mobile phone provider Dodo.
While national store rollout details were unavailable at time of going to print, Current.com.au has learned the mini stores would be called Dodo Centres and even allow people to pay their utilities bills there.
Dane Hocking, manager of the Cranbourne Betta Electrical Superstore, said the program would roll out in the new Mornington store when it opens mid-September, and concurrently in the Cranbourne store.
"We’ve got two Dodo stores rolling out into both these stores, as well. It’s a store within a store – the Dodo Centre.
“Basically, the little Dodo Centres will incorporate all our IT product. It’s a new pilot program that BSR are doing, which is fantastic, and they’ll roll out in both stores in conjunction with the opening of Mornington,” he said.
The bill payment system is due to Dodo’s move into gas and electricity, Hocking said, but customers with any utility company would be able to pay their bills in-store, he said.
“We’ll have the Bill Express facility in-store, so you can actually come in and pay all your bills, but obviously, predominantly you can pay your Dodo bill.
“It’s one of those things for us to attract more foot traffic through the stores,” he said.
Hocking said the partnership with BSR came after Dodo’s aborted attempt to open their own shopfronts a few years ago, and that the relationship between the two companies was “growing every day”.