Samsung is taking the competition to the storefronts as it teams up with Best Buy to start 'Samsung Experience Shops' in nearly 1400 of its outlets, according to a report from CNet.
Samsung is opening up minishops across all U.S. Best Buy and Best Buy mobile venues in order to connect to the consumers directly and answer any queries they might have about the product or the company. Samsung will start setting up 900 of its Experience Shops across all Best Buy stores and mobile outlets starting May and the rest in early June.
The Samsung Experience Shops will feature an array of Samsung electronics and mobile gadgets including laptops, PCs, smartphones (Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 2), cameras and tablets. In addition, a Samsung Smart TV will be used to show how these products can sync together to give the best functionality. Consumers can have a demo of each gadget and their unique functionalities through the store-within-a-store setup.
Select Best Buy stores will have a Samsung Smart Service where consumers can purchase, service and activate their devices. These stores will have Samsung experienced consultants and trained employees from Best buy to assist consumers with their queries.
"Retail is not something you jump into lightly, especially given consumers have been expecting this as a next step for Samsung," Ketrina Dunagan, vice president of retail marketing for Samsung Telecommunications America, told CNET. "Although the carriers and retailers today provide a solid retail experience for our consumers, what we find is a lot of [buyers'] deeper questions just aren't answered."
Best Buy already includes Samsung sales, but the new Experience Shops will give consumers a direct buy and will help them understand their products much better. Samsung mainly depends on major carriers and retailers to sell and explain the features of its products besides the limited number of Samsung outlets in the U.S and across Asia, Canada and Australia.
"With the Samsung Experience Shops, we are ensuring consumers get the most of that innovation by learning how to leverage their mobile devices across our ecosystem of consumer electronics," Dale Sohn, Samsung's America Telecommunications president, said in a statement. "Consumers will have one place to not only explore and learn about our full portfolio of mobile products, but also the support of a Samsung expert to help with selecting and servicing them."
