Vivo Mobile's newly-opened service experience store is the first of more to come in the future, says Tony Shi, GM of Vivo South Africa.
The Chinese smartphone brand officially opened its first standalone service centre at Cape Town’s Canal Walk Shopping Centre last week, saying the move forms part of its regional expansion.
The new location joins a global network of nearly 2 000 Vivo customer and authorised service centres, so far.
Shi tells ITWeb Vivo will open more service centres in other provinces. “It is under planning to extend our service centre network in SA along with the business growth.
“Cape Town is the first facility we’ve built alongside Johannesburg. Here [Joburg], it is currently located in our office park, but we have plans for a standalone development in the future.”
Vivo, which entered the South African market in December 2019, invested over a R1 million to set up the service experience centre, reveals Shi, noting it comes with four specialists who work in shifts to continually service customers.
An after-purchase offering, Vivo says the store provides multi-level customer support, including professional repairs, device maintenance, system updates and official spare parts.
In addition, it offers free collection and delivery, one-hour flash repair, complimentary insurance for devices and other multi-value-add services, it states.
“We are dedicated to bring service innovation and customer satisfaction. One of the best ways to provide the service and share the experience to our valued customers is the service centre. Not only can it provide multi-level service, but also can provide efficient support to the in-warranty and out-warranty products,” explains Shi.
Jeff Cao, Vivo Mobile SA CEO, adds: “In 2021, Vivo placed fifth throughout the market share of the global smartphone industry. Vivo also led the China smartphone market, and, as our network extended to 10 further countries throughout Africa, our business in South Africa continuously grew with doubled annual growth.
“This store is one of the most important service experience facilities we’ve built in South Africa and it will play an important role in the growth of vivo South Africa for years to come.”
Vivo is confident of its continued growth in South Africa, says the GM. “By the second half of 2022, we will be ready to fully open all our operator channels,” including retail and online channels.
Smartphone brand Vivo is present in 30 global markets, including 10 in Africa.
In SA, Vivo has rolled out a number of devices, including the Y21s, Y11, Y1S, V21 5G, X50 series, with the Y76 5G being the latest addition to its smartphone portfolio.
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