In early 2009 Microsoft announced it would be opening retail stores in a similar vein to the wildly popular Apple stores. In fact they planned to open them right next door to Apple’s retail outlets. The public response had all the trapping of the Republican / Democrat debate over health care legislation! This grand plan has been scaled down a bit to two “trial” stores, one in California and one in Arizona, and the hubub over Microsofts entry into the brick and mortar world has died down considerably.
Putting all the partisan squabbles aside, it might be interesting to take a look at what creative ideas these “retailers”, their consumer consultants, and their retail designers have brought to the table in terms of innovative retail design and visual merchandising.
Software is by nature interactive and one of the key features of the Microsoft stores is customer interactions with the software product and options reflected onto a continuous band of wall display screens. A visual merchant at Nordstroms once complained to me that they had lots of video screens but nothing to put on them. Microsoft’s stores solve this production problem by featuring the customer’s interaction with the product. While some customers found that being completely surrounded by digital activity made them a bit dizzy, others reported a sense of openess and expansive space as everything from landscape vistas to video games came into view.
Apple has the Genius Bar and Microsoft the Answers Bar. Whatever you call it, it’s almost a no-brainer that by moving the place where you go to get help with products away from the cashwrap and the exit, you will increase customer retention and sales. Going to the “bar” is a much better customer service solution than asking customers to chase a sales associate around the store. It funny to think that the Genius Bar was seen as such an innovation when Apple made it a feature of every store. When a customer has to head for the cashwrap and the store front exit just beyond, they are much less likely to dive back into the merchandise than to continue out the door without making a purchase.
The Microsoft Store also features “Surface” tables. Interactive table tops, surrounded by comfortable seating, where you can relax, learn and play. So many stores seem to always be selling so hard that they rarely create a place for relaxation, interaction and play. The Apple and MS stores may not be taking this “third room” concept as far as say Starbucks but maybe they should. Some customers have taken things into their own hands declaring the Apple’s Genius Bar the Best Place to Date. Still other Apple Store lovers make YouTube videos on the state-of -the art gear or use the store as a kind of mobile office space. Microsoft stores haven’t engender this type of creative use and loyalty yet.
Every retailer’s dream is to make their store that “got to see it, I can’t live without it” kind of place. Take a closer look at these two rivals and grab some interactive retail ideas that work.
Great point about these stores becoming “third rooms.” Starbucks, as you mentioned, has had great success selling the experience that comes with overpriced coffee. I occasionally wonder what other industries this could work with. Bookstores have used it for quite awhile. Could it ever work with a general retail store like Wal-Mart or Target — both of which provide you with a very different shopping experience as it is? I tend to think it couldn’t be taken to the next level for larger stores, but the environment in an Apple Store is much more intimate.
I just have to wonder how the stores are doing. Apple defines their success each quarter.
I have to wonder if Microsoft will do the same thing.
Just a thought,
en