No official news as of yet but word on the street is that ‘Retail 3.0’ is coming soon.

Maxis is one of the biggest (if not, the biggest) communication service provider in Malaysia. As such, they consistently strive to provide Malaysians with the best. Be it coverage, service, rates, or value for money, they’re always looking to be numero uno. While whether or not they actually achieve that is up for debate (Yes Maxis Home Internet Installment technicians, i’m looking at you!!), we can’t fault them for trying. Or perhaps we can. It’s hard to believe that the whole ‘unfair treatment of customers’ fiasco happened 3 years ago. Time sure flies and Maxis has been in overdrive mode ever since, trying to win back the trust of consumers. The jury is still out in that regard but we’ll see.

That being said, we’ve heard rumours that Maxis is in line to bring an all new retail concept to Malaysia. Thus far, telco companies all have the same brick and mortar walk in concept, as well as a separate online presence. Apparently, what Maxis dubs as “Retail 3.0” is going to be a fusion of the old and the new— brick and mortar equipped with the latest technology in a concept that focuses entirely on customer experience.

According to our sources, Maxis started looking for “Retail Consultants” early this year in what was a well thought out process with many stages of interviews and are already close to wrapping up training for these selected candidates. One source said that Maxis is looking to utilize the interests of their chosen representatives in order to resonate with the interests of consumers who walk into the store. Things such as music, sports, fitness and gaming are likely what they will be looking to connect with their customers over. The concept store is set to open up shop in The Gardens, Mid Valley.

News of Maxis’ “retail 3.0” concept is actually in line with the recent trend of combining offline retail with online retail. Where companies have adopted technology to power ‘experiences’, it’s usually on a relatively small scale due to the potential cost to roll out many of these approaches. Maxis however, can afford it.

Quite a few companies are talking about how they strive to create experiences for their consumers in brick and mortar stores but how exactly technology plays a role in this is still up in the air. Whatever it is, I guess we’ll find out when Maxis eventually opens up their new concept store, which is supposedly sometime next week.