Currys Business is on a mission to grow its brand awareness and reach more businesses across the UK. To reveal more about future plans, its chief services officer Dean Kramer sat down with Retail Week to discuss AI, growth areas for the team, and how it can cater to a variety of business needs.
Kramer joined Currys in 2004 and has taken on a number of roles in these two decades. His latest role is chief services officer which sees him lead B2B, credit and services teams.
He spoke to Retail Week about how he wants Currys Business to be the leading tech partner for UK businesses by ramping up its marketing, awareness, services and providing an unrivalled retail experience.
B2B is becoming a key growth area for you, can you explain the steps you’re taking to grow it?
“The market for technology for businesses, we think, is as big, if not bigger than the domestic consumer market. One of the challenges is the awareness of us as a B2B solutions provider as it’s much lower than the awareness of Currys as a consumer brand.
“We have customers who walk into our stores every day that are small business owners, but we’re not as well known for that. So it’s a big opportunity.
“The other part is our focus on services. Services and ways to pay are important for businesses to get set up, get their tech repaired when they need it, and make sure they get all the best out of it. So all of the things that we do well for consumers in general, we think we can augment and do a really good job for businesses.”
Currys wants to become the go to tech partner for UK businesses. Can you explain how you plan to achieve that?
“We know that customers shop in an omnichannel way and the same is true for businesses. We’ve got localised proximity, we’ve got 54 business hubs, we’ve got a contact centre based down in Dorset with specialised sales and service colleagues, we’ve got field-based teams that go out to larger customers and then we’ve got a B2B website.
“If customers want to have a complex conversation, they come in and see us. If they need to buy printer ink, it may be easier to just do it online, so we need to be able to cater to their different needs.
“Being part of the local communities is a big part of that too. Therefore, understanding where we’ve got business hubs, what the business market is like in the local community, and bringing that community together.
“We don’t want to be seen as a big corporate behemoth that has no face for the local business community. That’s why we would put so much stock in and invest so much in our local colleagues as small businesses want to have a relatable conversation with somebody that understands the specific issue for their business.”
“I want to make sure it’s absolutely relatable to the day-to-day of how somebody runs their business”
Currys is doing a lot with AI. How do you sell the use of AI to business customers?
“AI is a massive growth area across several product categories at the moment, and for most businesses, it is confusing and scary. Actually, it should bring more benefits to a business customer sooner than a domestic customer, and we can do a really good job of helping businesses to become more efficient and productive with AI.
“What we’ve been pushing for both ourselves and through partners like Microsoft, is how we can ensure that the use cases are really clear to business customers. I want to make sure it’s absolutely relatable to the day-to-day of how somebody runs their business.
“From my point of view, a good example is the use of co-pilot and the time it takes to corral actions and share information is sped up immensely. Essentially we’re focused on ensuring that our colleagues are comfortable using it, and can pass that through to our business customers.”
What are common reasons for people to shop with Currys Business?
“Some businesses are very specific in terms of the types of products that are right for them. If you’re a landlord, appliances make sense, but if you run an office, nearly everything we sell could apply—such as computing kits or coffee machines.
“I would say the most important thing is the strength of the knowledge of our people, and when we look at the insight, there is around 80% of small and medium businesses that value some form of interaction and advice when it comes to buying for their business.
“This is unsurprising because it’s a big decision. If we can become brilliant in that sense and also have a personal level of relationship that is trusted, then that’s where I feel we can stand out.”
What are the priorities for Currys Business this year?
“The first thing is building awareness. There’s a 23% awareness of Currys business, which is very low when you compare it to Currys as a whole. So you will expect to see more of us as we’re going to spend more on marketing the brand and spend more nationally and locally to get our name out there.
“The second priority is to develop. We’ve always had a business offer, so for me, it’s how do we develop those relationships better to understand what customers need next? Then the final thing is a proper amount of investment in our frontline colleagues, both sales and service. We want this part of the business to be a real aspirational part to work in. And we think with those investments, it can be a really exciting place to work.”
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