Skype to Boost Retail Presence in Europe in Partnership with Dangaard Telecom

Skype is planning to establish a large retail presence in Europe, through a new distribution and retail programme with Dangaard Telecom.

The new programme will give Skype Certified products the potential to reach shoppers across more than 34,000 European retailers, who will initially include Mediamarkt, Media-Saturn, Merlin, Dansk Supermarked and Surcouf.

This agreement supports Skype's growing presence in Europe: Dangaard's network of consumer electronic, hypermarkets and mobile phone vendors will help expose Skype's unique worldwide free communications offering to a broad new audience of potential customers. Further, these retail stores will provide consumers with a place to shop for new Skype Certified products, including co-branded products from Simply Phones, Ipevo, Labtec, Sennheiser Communications and VoIPvoice.

The initial product selection will include starter packs, headsets, USB phones, and webcams, all in uniformly sized packaging with consistent colouring and branding. The product price range will be EUR 10-40 with an entry-level focus.

To showcase the products, retailers will be offered plug-and-play 'Skype Stand' display units, ready-stocked with Skype certified products, that can be placed anywhere in the store.

In mid-March, Dangaard Telecom will launch the programme into its existing accessories programme, which currently includes 3,500 points-of-sale across Europe. In late March, Dangaard will work with Skype to expand the programme across its 34,000 retail locations in 12 countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain and Sweden).