Yesterday, AccessKenya launched their first ever retail shop at the Westgate Mall in Westlands, Nairobi. The shop is designed to give existing and prospective customers the AccessKenya brand experience in a more personal and effective way compared to other more traditional channels. This includes demonstrations of broadband products and services from AccessKenya as well as technology products such as WIFI routers, etc.

I have to say I was a little surprised that AccessKenya would invest in a retail shop when most of their customers are businesses of all sizes. However, its becoming increasingly apparent that customers need to “touch and feel” before buying these days. This is most evident in the case of Apple who have hundreds of themed stores globally that effectively create the “Apple Experience”. It also helps them reach the market directly, ensuring higher margins by avoiding external channel partners.

I had the opportunity to do a short video interview with Diana Mulili as below who is the Head of Retail Distribution at AccessKenya. In addition, I also managed to load some pictures of the launch event and retail shop on Facebook which you can view here>

The kicker to the evening was free access to watch the premiere of Battle:LA, a blockbuster SciFi movie that is actually being launched globally today. Battle:LA is a MUST watch for tech heads like me! 🙂