Whatever happened to Phones 4u?
Remember them? They were on every high street selling phones. Great business eh? Everyone buys a smart phone. We all love them. A growing market – yes! Great business proposition!
Except – now they’ve gone. They went out of business in 2014. What happened?
Well they had an exclusive deal with Vodafone. Vodafone was their only supplier. And Vodafone changed their strategy – deciding to sell through different channels.
Phones 4u didn’t see that one coming. They were too busy opening shops and selling phones.
Nobody in the entire company noticed how totally dependent they were on Vodafone or realised the risks of having only one major supplier.
Are you totally, or even significantly, dependent on one supplier? Or customer?
If so, it’s time to act now! Do some strategic thinking about how you can become less dependent on them before it’s too late.
