Dixons Group

Dixons Group enters £500m customer service market and has handed marketing director Niall O’Keeffe a new brief to develop its customer service proposition – which he claims is worth £500m – as the owner of Currys and PC World looks to stand apart from rivals in the struggling sector.

His promotion is part of the retail group’s attemps to put customer service at the heart of its buisness strategy.

O’Keeffe will become development director of its know-how service brand, which has introduced in November and has described by the retailer at the time as a “fundamental shift” in how it does business. It aimed to boost sales at PC World and Curry’s by introducing a raft of customer service initiatives.

O’Keeffe will lead a yet-to-be-built team dedicated to the Know how brand, services and delivering the programme across all areas of the business.

O’Keeffe says his job is to understand customer demands for after-sales care and develop the next range of products and services to meet them.

Dixons plans to launch a ‘Collect at Home’ service later this week, which will allow customers to arrange for Dixons to collect items that are being returned or serviced under the Know how proposition.

The retail chain is also launching its first TV campaign under the Knowhow brand in September to communicate the importance of customer care to the business.

“Customer service is the way forward in the consumer electricals sector,” says O’Keeffe.

Andrea Silver, current director of customer strategy and marketing service, will take on the marketing director role with responsibility for strategy, advertising and consumer PR. She will also continue to have
responsibility for insight, CRM, exclusive brands and marketing analytics.

The reshuffle comes as Dixons faces falling sales as customers rein in spending on big-ticket electrical items. The group recently reported a 2% fall in group sales to £8.2bn for the year to 30 April.

Rivals Comet and Argos have also recently posted disappointing results.