How Protoria (Samsung Experience Store) has achieved Trade-In sales growth by 93% while the market plumped by 40%

Objectives:

•  Increase Trade-In financial performance
•  Make the program easy and comfortable for customers and employees
•  Enhance customers’ awareness of the program and its benefits

The solution:

• Replacement of Trade-In provider with Breezy
• Work with sales staff
• Ad campaign on Trade-In awareness
• Trade-In formats diversification

Results:

• Gadget evaluation time shrunk from 2 days to 5 minutes;
• Trade-In operations multiplied by 93% while the personal electronics market generally plumped;
• Conversion soared up to 2 times and achieved twice as high as the market average;
• The number of repeated Trade-In transactions increased by 50%.

Features:

• 50% of Trade-In transactions occur in the upper price range – it means the flagman to flagman replacement.
• The program works well with traditional devices (smartphones and tablets), headphones, and watches.
• Implemented an advanced format based on the standard service: multi-exchange.

That’s why the Trade-In is essential for Samsung Experience Store

Samsung Experience Store is a chain of Samsung branded stores. Each store must meet high vendor standards, including customer service quality and an environmental value management system.

Samsung Electronics laid the foundation for environmental management as a philosophy for the 21st century with the Samsung Environmental Declaration back in 1992. Since then, the company has complied with environmental regulations and laws and implemented ecological management, offers customers environmentally friendly solutions, develops a circular economy, and implements sustainable business models.

Trade-In is one of the elements of the company's environmental care. Therefore, the program should be in all stores and work perfectly, quickly, and simply for the client.

Unfortunately, the first Trade-In provider failed to provide good quality service.

To be improved

Anatolii Rogovets, Senior manager of the insurance and services category, Protoriа (Samsung Experience Store):

«Samsung Experience Store clients are accustomed to the highest quality of service. Every service we implement is designed with the customer in mind. We think over each stage of the client's interaction with our service: how exactly, when, and under what circumstances they will use it, and what we can change to make the service brings only a positive client experience.

Therefore, you can imagine our disappointment when, despite constructive feedback from our side, the provider failed to make the Trade-In process convenient for customers and our sales staff. One of the problems was the device assessment process. It took up to two days and needed to be more accurate, leading to a gap between the initial and final price. As a result, a client received a lower discount than was expected and felt cheated and disappointed. Of course, such clients are not inclined to purchase additional services and, in general, will seriously consider whether they want to stay in our network. It was unacceptable. And we decided to change the Trade-In provider to Breezy.»

Mykhailo Vatakh, CEO of Protoria (Samsung Experience Store):

«Samsung is a high-quality product. Our development team designs each model to be used for a long time and, if necessary, repaired. In addition, we keep in mind environmental care and e-waste reduction.

At the same time, Samsung products are revolutionary developments ahead of the market. Therefore, many customers are eager to get the latest model as soon as it appears. The Trade-In program joins these two needs: caring for the environment by prolonging the life of the device and the desire to have a flagship gadget. That's why we gave the program a second life together with Breezy».

How it works now

With Trade-In by Breezy, a device is evaluated in the client's presence and takes 5 minutes. The Trade-In Breezy platform conducts "smart visual assessment" and automatic diagnostics of a smartphone or tablet hardware using 55 checkpoints. The offered price, one of the highest on the market, is final – it can be used immediately as a discount for a new gadget.

Breezy also provided complete online integration of the assessment module. With the help of a convenient and easy-to-use online calculator, you can find out the preliminary cost of the gadget without leaving your home. Then, in a few clicks, you can select the equipment you want to buy, choose all the devices you plan to hand off, and the module will calculate the cost to pay.

How to make the service popular

Anatolii Rogovets, Senior manager of the insurance and services category, Protoriа (Samsung Experience Store):

«In USA and Europe, Trade-In of personal electronics has long been a trend. In Ukraine, this service is only gaining popularity. To make it work in full force, it was necessary to popularize it. We started with the sales force. This was a challenge because they had already had a difficult experience with Trade-In, with it a distrust of the program. You should not expect good sales if the consultant does not believe in the product. Therefore, it was essential to engage sale staff to join our side».

Breezy conducted two rounds of Trade-In training for Samsung Experience Store sales staff. First, the consultants learned how to evaluate the gadget, perform diagnostics, and other technical details. At this stage, it became clear to sellers how different the new Trade-In version is: how quickly, transparently, and conveniently the gadget is evaluated.

The second stage of training was devoted to the skill of selling a service to customers: its benefits and advantages. The sellers' objections were worked out during the module on addressing complaints. The training demanded the provider's and retailer's time, but the result was worth it – the consultants got involved in the program and actively recommended it to clients.

Trade-In gets popular

When the sales staff became Trade-In advocates, it was time to draw the customers' attention to the service. To do this, the Samsung Experience Store ran a targeted advertising campaign using remarketing tools that resulted in conversion growth of 2 times a month. Considering that due to Trade-In, sales increase by 20% on average and cross-sales by 25%, investments in an advertising campaign quickly pay off, especially if we are talking about the period before the new model release when the sharpest peaks of Trade-In activity are noted.

Heyday for experiment

Breezy's Trade-In allowed for more complex multi-exchange mechanics. Under this program, you can return any branded gadgets and get a discount of up to 100% on purchasing a new Samsung device. From May 2022, this way, you can pay not only for a typical smartphone, tablet, or watch but also for a TV. Headphones are also included in the program. At the same time, you can hand over Samsung equipment and other well-known brands.

Mykola Havrylenko, CMO of Protoriа (Samsung Experience Store):

«In the Samsung Experience Store, we do not just sell gadgets but create a single platform, an infrastructure solution where clients can solve all their tasks related to modern technology: from inspiration from new features of the latest Samsung developments to phone upgrades to a recent model. After-sales service, setting up a new device, extended warranty, upgrading old equipment – users can solve all these issues in the Samsung Experience Store. It causes our audience loyalty to the brand. Trade-In is an important element of this infrastructure solution. It is a profound and feature-rich tool for delivering an excellent customer experience. The main thing is to choose the right provider».