If you’ve followed us for a while then you’ll already know that EE are giving away free portable chargers to their customers.
Yesterday was “go” day and queues formed in EE stores around the UK as customers. At this point I’m going to do a classic “local newspaper” report and just inject lots of tweets. This’ll fill most of the story and it’ll mean I won’t have to do a lot. Brilliant. User generated content. Winner.
I've come to the @EE Mooregate branch to collect Free EE Charger and the queue is very LONG đđđ pic.twitter.com/NC99MdN5ki
— BIG E-D (@BIGE_DMUSIC) April 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/Kiran_Singhxo/status/588711234503057408
Cue in Moorgate EE store for the portable charger. Limited stock, get yours asap pic.twitter.com/7wDbn1aDii
— Elisha. (@_simplyleesh) April 16, 2015
@EE so, what are our options when we didn't get one today because work committments and in-store queues? pic.twitter.com/PMSagiB26X
— Sean Robertson like in Friday the 13th part VIII (@SeanR1974) April 16, 2015
Queueing up for their power bar @EE store. @MichaelGarwood and I are too! pic.twitter.com/jZVFwKN4nS
— PĂĄdraig McGarrigle (@Paddy_Mc_G) April 16, 2015
What this proves to me is a number of things. Firstly, I think it’s a rather clever move by EE. If I’m prepared to guess, with the amount of chargers EE have probably bought, these chargers probably won’t cost more than ÂŁ1 or ÂŁ2 each. Giving them away, then offering fully-charged replacements in store if the one in your bag goes flat, means that stores will get customers popping in more regularly. That’s going to increase footfall and adds to the potential sales.
Another thing it shows, with the amount of people queuing in shops, is that the batteries in most smartphones are completely terrible. People don’t want these power bars / portable chargers – they need them. Most people don’t actually give in to it though. These portable chargers have been on the market for ages now, but a large portion of people don’t actively go and buy one, even though you can get one for ÂŁ1.56 from the mighty Amazon. If someone offers it up for free, and you only need to pop into the local shop to pick it up on your lunch break, you’d be crazy to resist.