Following the likes of Tesco Mobile, Sainsbury’s and Vodafone UK have announced a joint venture to offer mobile services to Sainsbury’s customers.
Mobile by Sainsbury’s would launch in the summer and would run as an evenly split venture between the supermarket and network operator, Vodafone said.
This would offer mobile products and services, developed by a management team made up of employees from both companies, to Sainsbury’s customers, including schemes for customer loyalty, Nectar points and “value-for-money mobile products” with offers, the network said.
The venture would use Sainsbury’s retail distribution with Vodafone’s technology and network and would sell in store and online to Sainsbury’s customers.
This used both businesses’ strengths to offer the new product range to customers, Vodafone UK chief executive Guy Laurence said.
As to details on pricing, a Vodafone spokesperson said these would be announced at the launch date. As to when this launch date actually was, the spokesperson said it could not release further details. Mobile by Sainsbury’s would range handsets but there was no information available as to what handsets or products would be made available.
The deal with Sainsbury’s had been in the works for “some time” and this equated to several months, a network spokesperson thought.