Phones4U

About Phones4U

MobileShop.com is a completely independent comparison site, comparing deals from all the major retailers, bringing you the best deals in the UK! We’ll help you to decide which deal is best for you, and because we have the best deals from all of the major retailers, on a broad range of products, you’ll never need to look anywhere else!

More than that, we’re always pushing forward, forging new relationships with the big names in the industry, like Phones 4U, to bring you the best of the best deals. Check out the latest offers on Phones 4U’s vast range of mobile phones, brought to you by the only site you’ll ever need, MobileShop.com!

With a huge range of mobile phones and mobile broadband deals to choose from, it’s hardly surprising that Phones 4U are such a big hitter in the marketplace! There’s Check out some of their exciting deals!

JCB TOUGH PHONE
This super-tough, super-resilient phone began life as a Phones 4U exclusive, available only through one of their 440 stores. It’s easy to see why it’s so popular with its target market (builders), because frankly, it’s virtually impossible to kill!!

Samsung G600 Belle
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One for the ladies, with the exclusive Samsung G600 Belle. Cause a stir with this sultry beauty, and snap fab photos of others people’s reactions with the awesome 5 megapixel cam. Comes complete with matching nail varnish, exclusively from Phones 4U!

Mobile Broadband: 3
Officially voted "Best Mobile Broadband provider in the UK", 3 provide a huge range of mobile broadband options, and awesome deals on their family of USB Modems. Check out 3’s mobile broadband deals, from Phones 4U.

The history of Phones4U

Phones 4U are the UK’s fastest growing independent retailer of mobile phones. Their business is founded on three cornerstones: their excellent customer service, their innovative advertising (a lot more on that later) and their unique, differentiated in-store experience. It must be working well, because Phones 4U have 440 stores nationwide, and are still growing rapidly!

At the core of Phones 4U’s entire business is one, deeply entrenched principle: Phones 4U’s role is to cut through the confusion and complexity that abounds in the mobile world, and help customers make informed choices, without getting fazed by the whole thing. Or, to put it another way, as Phones 4U say in their very own motto, “We’ll help you find the right deal 4 U”. It’s that attitude, and that single principle that saw them win the JD Power customer satisfaction survey, for mobile phone retailers, for 2 years running!

However, there is one thing that Phones 4U are very famous for, more than anything else…

Their adverts. Who out there hasn’t seen the Phones 4U ads, with Jack the hyperactive American, Scary Mary, Whittling Dan and all the rest. And the hand gesture. You know the one. The one where he sort of does “Phones 4U” in sign language. You know. This one:

MUST HAVE IMAGE OF THE PHONES 4U SIGN LANGUAGE HERE, FOR THE JOKE TO WORK (HAND-DRAWN WOULD WORK BEST)

Since everyone and their dog knows that hand gesture, it’s fair to say Phones 4U have, in that, one of the most successful advertising campaigns ever!

As to where they fit in the hierarchy of companies involved in mobile phones, they’re actually part of the Caudwell Group, which compromises other companies such as 20:20 Logistics (the largest distributor of Nokia mobile phones in the world), and Dextra Solutions (distributor of mobile accessories; in fact Nokia’s largest accessories distributor, worldwide).

To put it another way, Phones 4U is the most visible part of an group of companies that collectively worth more than a billion pounds!

How big is Phones 4U’s company/market?

Even before they bought Dial-a-Phone, Phones 4U were in a very strong position. With 440 stores nationwide, they dominate the high street, with their main rival, needless to say, being Carphone Warehouse. Now, though, their reach extends much more into the online world, and that’s only going to bolster Phones 4U’s sales.

So, that’s one of the factors that gives Phones 4U a huge opportunity for more sales and more growth. Another big, BIG factor is the fact that Vodafone signed all their contract business over to them. So, in other words, if you want your phone to be connected directly through Vodafone, then the place to buy (other than Vodafone themselves, obviously) is Phones 4U.

Actual figures for Phones4U are harder to come by than somebody like, for example, Carphone Warehouse, but the figures from 2005 indicate their turnover then was £700 million, and they employed 4500 people, nationwide. Given their recent successes and acquisitions (Vodafone and Dial-a-Phone, respectively), it’s pretty fair to assume they’re even bigger now!

Given that they also have, officially, the ‘Best National Advertising and Marketing Campaign’ (Mobile News Awards, 2008), Phones 4U have a massive advantage in the marketing arena, and with such a well-known and recognisable TV presence, that CANNOT fail to push Phones 4U to even greater heights!



The history of Phones 4U

Phones 4U first opened their doors to customers in 1996, after growing out of the Caudwell Group, which was itself formed in 1987 by brothers John and Brian Caudwell. Then called Midlands Mobile Phones, the Caudwell Group first started out as a distributor. In order to fully understand Phones 4U, you need to also understand its sister companies. The most prominent among these are 20:20 Logistics and Dextra Solutions, both prominent players in the world of mobile phones.

In fact, both of them hold the title of “Nokia’s biggest distributor”, with 20:20 concentrating on phones, while Dextra concentrate on accessories. With sisters like these, it’s hardly surprising Phones 4U is ALSO one of the biggest hitters in the marketplace. In fact, the Caudwell Group even had its finger in the pie of network provision, as they owned the huge Vodafone service provider, Singlepoint. Singlepoint, though, was sold to Vodafone themselves in 2003, for the not-inconsequential sum of £405 million!

We’re obviously talking big money here, but what about the founder of Phones 4U, John Caudwell himself?

Well, given that he founded the group that owns 2 of the big names in mobile distribution, and one of the biggest names in mobile retail, it’s fair to say he’s doing alright for himself. In fact, largely due to the success of Dextra Solutions, 20:20 Logistics and Phones 4U (who, combined, sell 26 phones EVERY MINUTE) he was estimated, in 2005, to be worth £1.28 billion. Not million. Billion.

And to think, he started the same way as most of modern Britain’s richest men, working his way up from the street (think Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse, or the massive success story that is Alan Sugar). In fact, it took him 34 years to get into the world of entrepeneurship, and found what would become the Caudwell Group, that would itself spawn Phones 4U. And he was never afraid of being tough, and acting controversially. He famously banned email throughout all of the Group companies (and equally famously, called email “a cancer”!), and underperforming managers would be instantly eliminated, stripping Phones 4U of hangers on before they could become a problem. He’s also well known for routinely cycling to work (well, not every day, but enough for it to be noteworthy).

After the sales of Phones 4U, though (which netted him a massive £1.24 billion), he is now heavily involved in the children’s charity he set up in 2000, and has no plans to return to the boardroom, or set up another business.

With a cool billion in the bank from the sale of Phones 4U, it’s fair to say he doesn’t NEED to!

Meanwhile, Phones 4U, whilst all this was happening to its sister companies, was patiently building up its business muscles, extending its reach and power, and most importantly, growing really, really quickly. There’s an obvious benefit for a company with rapid growth: no-one else can keep up, so you beat them! Phones 4U certainly seem to be growing faster than just about anybody in the mobile marketplace, and the main reason for this is, they argue, their unique store experience (well, that and their weird TV adverts… more on those in a second)

Basically, anyone going into any of Phones 4U’s 440 stores across the UK and Northern Ireland will find that they have the opportunity to sit and chat with a salesperson about exactly what they want. The salesperson will help the customer decide what is best for them, and then, help the customer to pick a phone. It’s more like consultation than a sales process, and it’s something Phones 4U are very, very proud of.

Then, in 2006, the whole group, including Phones 4U, was sold, to two private equity firms, Providence Equity Partners, and Doughty Hanson (where it became the 4u Group, and is run by CEO Tim Whiting). In the same year, Vodafone (in an attempt to neatly stuff Carphone Warehouse) chose Phones 4U as their official partner, putting all their new contract business through them. Since then, Phones 4U have continued to go from strength to strength.

And let’s face it, those mad Phones 4U adverts on telly haven’t hurt. We have to mention them, as they’re routinely seen as some of the top adverts on TV. That’s not just subjective opinion, either, since in the 2008 Mobile News Awards, Phones 4U won the award for ‘Best National Advertising and Marketing Campaign’.

And it’s all thanks to an American dude called Jack. Anyone who’s ever seen a Phones 4U advert will immediately recognise him; he’s the one with the hand gestures, who has the power to look inside people’s heads to find what deal is perfect for them (that’d be Whittling Dan), and giving Volkswagen Baha beach buggies to guys with lank hair and glasses, to increase their pulling power. All in all, Phones 4U’s advertising campaign can be summed up by one word: mental. But the thing is… it’s so well-known, and the characters are so memorable (Scary Mary in particular… *shudder*), that it really is no wonder at all that Phones 4U did massively well from it! Just think how recognisable their brand is because of those adverts!

Phones 4U continue, to this day, to grow bigger, to be more powerful, and to cement their position as a force to be reckoned with. Possibly the biggest news, and the biggest boost to Phones 4U’s power was when they announced, on 20th February 2008, the purchase of retailer Dial-a-Phone, giving them a big jump into the online market, to complement their huge presence on the high street.

All in all, then, Phones 4U have gone from strength to strength in the years since they were founded, and it looks like they’ll keeping going from strength to strength for a LONG time to come!