In episode 496 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Ed Evans, CEO of Consumer Cellular, the top-rated wireless provider that provides cell phones and no-contract service plans primarily to those 50-plus. Listen in as Evans details what's driving Consumer Cellular's brick-and-mortar expansion (1:45), the strategy behind determining new store locations (3:40), and building digital and physical offerings to serve its core demographic of age 55-and-above consumers (5:25). He discusses training store associates to deliver exceptional customer experiences (8:30), creating frictionless digital customer journeys that fuel customer acquisition (9:55), and providing education for Consumer Cellular's customers (11:40).

In addition, Evans shares the key benefits of Consumer Cellular's 100 percent U.S.-based customer support call centers for its cohort of older customers (13:55). Lastly, he touches on where he sees the greatest opportunities for innovation at the wireless provider (16:30) as well as marketing to and potentially acquiring the caretakers of its elderly customers (20:00).

Ed Evans serves as chairman and CEO of Consumer Cellular. He is an accomplished executive in the wireless space with more than three decades of experience. Ed served as CEO of Inteliquent, chairman and CEO of Syniverse Technologies, a GTCR portfolio company, as well as president and chief operating officer at Dobson Communications. Before joining Dobson, he held a variety of management positions with BellSouth and GTE from 1989 to 1996. Ed has served on the boards of Solix, Neutral Tandem, Carolina West Wireless, and The University of Florida Athletic Association. Ed is currently a trustee for The First Tee. Ed earned his MBA in Finance from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.