Microsoft store is a poor man’s Apple
Commentary: Software giant seeks to mirror Apple’s retail success
By Therese Poletti, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Microsoft Corp. is just gushing with compliments for Apple Inc.
The software giant’s first Silicon Valley retail store in a big shopping mall is a brazen example of how Microsoft is trying to mimic the success Apple AAPL +0.25% has had with its sleek and boxy retail stores. It’s even located a stone’s throw from Apple’s store in the Westfield Valley Fair mall.
While the Microsoft store was packed last Friday afternoon, just a day after its grand opening, the Apple store had a line of people outside waiting to get in, as the crowds inside dissipated, a sort of velvet-rope approach to retailing. (Will bouncers and a guest list be next?)
Microsoft decided to get into retailing again after an ill-fated attempt during the dot-com boom. Its big store in San Francisco’s then-new Metreon complex lasted two years before it was shuttered. The store was jointly operated by Sony Corp.
It opened its first store in Scottsdale, Ariz. in October 2009, at the same time it launched its Windows 7 operating system. The Valley Fair store is the company’s 14th retail store, and its fifth location in California.
But with many PCs often pre-installed with Windows and updates done via the Internet, why does Microsoft need a store, inquiring minds might ask.
Microsoft’s clean-lined, glass-paneled, a more colorful clone of the Apple store, showcases a surprising number of consumer products. Kids were trying to learn to play the Xbox Kinect video game system, or they were sitting in chairs playing on top of a big liquid crystal display that acted as a table top, called Microsoft Surface tables.
Windows Phone 7 was touted in a variety of smartphones developed by its partners, and Windows 7 in a slew of laptops and the new thinner ultra-book PCs, featured on modern cedar tables, where customers were gathered playing with systems. But there were not many retail bargains.
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CBS MarketWatch: Microsoft store is a poor man’s Apple
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I visited both an Apple store and a Microsoft store this past weekend, in Seattle's University Village shopping center. The two stores sit on opposite sides of a parking lot, maybe 100 yards apart. The Microsoft store is about a third the size of the Apple store, and had far less than a third as many customers when I visited. It was my first time inside a Microsoft store.
My wife was in the Apple store to buy her first iPhone, a 4S. She is still amazed by it several days later. Even my cynical teen and pre-teen sons are giggling about how awesome Siri is.
There were definitely some differences between the feel of the Apple and Microsoft stores. The Microsoft store was more brightly lit, and had a more colorful layout. Combined with the blue and red tiling on the computer desktops, it felt kind of like the whole store was decorated in a cheery blue and red plaid. It was a little distracting in terms of atmosphere, but kind of boring in terms of merchandise. No one was checking out the tablets or phones. There was a stray Zune logo here and there. And there were really only a few computers being checked out. I got asked if I needed help several times. I didn't see anyone buy anything. The only thing people seemed to be paying attention to was a XBox 360 display in the front window, where an employee was demonstrating baseball to a young child as I entered, and several 20-somethings were playing some Fruit Ninja-type game with the Kinect as I exited.
The Apple store seemed more dimly lit by comparison, more monochromatic. But the place was just jumping. I counted 150-200 customers with about 35 employees in blue shirts helping them. Computers, phones, and iPods were flying out the doors. A whole bunch of people were sitting with employees at the "transfer your stuff" tables, including my wife who was getting her contact list moved from her old non-smartphone. My son and daughter were playing with iPads, and did NOT want to come with me to the Microsoft store when I asked.
The Microsoft store felt a lot like the Sony store I visited a few years ago at a different mall in Seattle. More like a vanity me-too storefront than something that'll actually move product. I spoke with another parent the next day; she was planning to take her kids and a couple of their friends to the Microsoft store. To play with the XBox and Kinect, she said. It's the only reason to go there, she also said. |
