Situation

• One of the fastest-growing dollar store chains in Canada is adding new locations across the country
• Dollar Giant had been using a variety of providers for its voice and high speed Internet communications
• To simplify administration, keep costs as low as possible and make it easy to access technical support when necessary, head office wanted to consolidate its communications needs across the country with a single provider
• In this highly competitive marketplace, any competitive differentiator is extremely valuable

Approach

• While looking for solutions, Dollar Giant spoke to a number of providers and also contacted their TELUS representative
• TELUS offered a variety of options
• The TELUS Business One™ Bundle made the most sense for the business as it met all their needs.

Business benefits

• Dollar giant now receives just three communications bills for all its stores - one each for B.C., Alberta and Ontario - dramatically reducing its administrative requirements
• Dollar Giant saves close to 25% on its communications costs.  Total savings by the time its TELUS Business One Bundle contracts expire will be almost $50,000.
• Thanks to these savings, Dollar Giant is able to offer its customers payment by debit and credit card - a rare competitive advantage in this market
• With just one number to call for technical support anywhere in the country, Dollar Giant finds it easy to get problems resolved
• The Internet service included in the bundle has proved to be much more reliable than that previously provided by other companies
• Thanks to its reliability, Dollar Giant is able to use a single ADSL connection in each store to run the company's retail merchandise software, an average of two bank machines and a feed for the security system

Solution

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., Dollar Giant is one of Canada's fastest-growing single price point retailers.  The company has stores across B.C., Alberta and Ontario and promises its customers that no item will ever cost more than a dollar.

Not surprisingly, this price structure requires Dollar Giant to be extremely efficient in its operations and to keep all of its own costs as low as possible.  Because of this, the company's new HR/Logistics/Administrative Manager, Mark Arden, took the decision to consolidate all phone and Internet communications across the company with a single provider.  Dollar Giant had previously used at least three different service providers.

When he began researching the possibilities, Arden found that it wasn't always as easy as he had expected.  "With one of them, we kept getting 'Press 1' for this, 'Press 2' for that."  This wasn't the case with TELUS as the company had an established relationship with a TELUS representative and was able to get through immediately.

After Arden had described Dollar Giant's requirements, the TELUS representative presented a number of different options, including the TELUS Business One bundle.  This bundle includes local phone service*, long distance service, high speed Internet for business and a number of other services at no additional cost - all for about 25% less than the company was paying for separate services.  It also provides a single phone number to call when technical support is needed anywhere in Canada.

Dollar Giant now subscribes to the TELUS Business One Bundle for each of its stores in Alberta and British Columbia.  By the time its Business One Bundle contracts expire, the company will have saved a total of close to $50,000.  What's more, Dollar Giant now receives just three bills, one each for B.C., Alberta and Ontario, significantly reducing administrative tasks and costs.

Most important of all, the lower costs have enabled Dollar giant to use the Internet service in its bundle to offer its clients payment by debit and credit card.  "In general, our competitors don't offer these services because of the basic costs," says Arden.  As a result, Dollar Giant has a distinct advantage in a highly competitive market.

Dollar Giant is also extremely satisfied with the quality of the services in its Business One bundle.  "Everything works great," says Arden.  "We use one ADSL connection per store to run our own retail merchandise software, an average of two bank machines and a feed for our security system.  And the reliability is better than we were getting with either of our other previous providers."

*You are not required to subscribe to any TELUS tariffed services to enjoy the benefits of the Business One Bundle.  Bundle components may differ by location.