It caused astonishment: At the new SIMon Mobile discounter, your monthly costs depend on which provider you were with before. You then pay either 9 euros or up to 15 euros. In an interview with inside digital, the brand boss explains what’s behind it.
The tariff model is new in Germany: With SimOn Mobile you always get a telephone and SMS flat rate and 8 GB of data volume – but the basic monthly costs that you have to pay depend on your previous provider. More precisely: According to the provider from whom your number comes.
The basic price for SIMon Mobile: 11.99 euros. This price applies if you get a new number from the discounter. If you bring a phone number with you, the price can drop to 8.99 euros per month and thus become a real campaign offer. However, if you bring the number from a “wrong” provider with you, the price rises to 14.99 euros. We asked SIMon Mobile brand boss Martin Schiffer what was behind it.
Why another discounter?
inside digital: Mr. Schiffer, we already have countless brands and discounters on the German market. Why do we now also need SIMon Mobile?
Martin Schiffer: The basic mobile communications market is highly competitive. It is about the customers who for various reasons cannot or do not want to pay around 10 euros a month for their mobile phone tariff. This is either related to the income or because they simply don’t have to use a full-service provider like Vodafone directly and buy a new cell phone on a regular basis. We estimate that the market is up to a quarter of the customers. We would like to take a piece of this market. Because if you look at the price-performance ratio, you will find similar offers – but not permanently and in a D network, as we offer with Vodafone.
inside digita l: Now you have three basic costs for one tariff. If I am with a network operator today and want to switch to you without giving up my number, I have to pay more than if I want to switch to you from a Drillisch discounter. Why?
Schiffer : That has to do with our target group. We want to target our core market in a very targeted manner and make a really good offer to customers who are price-sensitive. We believe that customers who are currently under contract with a network operator will still consider a price of 14.99 euros for 8 GB to be very inexpensive if they want to switch to us. With our 8.99 euro base price, on the other hand, we want to target our core market and win customers. Incidentally, anyone who dials a new number pays 11.99 euros per month
inside digital: In your list of providers where customers get the highest price level, I also find providers like congstar, Fraenk or Tchibo. That should actually be the customers you are focusing on.
Schiffer : If you look at the tariffs there, you can see that you can quickly reach well over 10 euros per month and also get less service. That is why we have decided not to focus on these brands when marketing them through their low price for the time being. However, these lists are not set in stone either; we may adapt them.
