Samsung to open its own stores – inside 1400 Best Buys

By Trevor Mogg April 4, 2013

Samsung has evidently been eyeing the growing success and popularity of Apple retail stores, thinking, “I’d like a bit of that.” But instead of pouring masses of resources into building its own retail empire, it’s decided to move in with Best Buy instead. And the Korean electronics giant isn’t hanging about.

It’s planning to open 900 store-within-a-store sites across the US this month alone, with a further 500 coming by the summer, the tech company announced on Wednesday.

Giving consumers a chance to get up close and personal with its smartphones (think Galaxy S4), tablets, laptops, cameras, Smart TVs and accessories – and with specially trained Samsung staff on hand to gently persuade visitors to hand over their cash in exchange for one of the aforementioned items – Samsung is clearly hoping to fill its coffers to bursting point while avoiding the enormous overheads and hassles that come with running a large network of stores.

Many of the stores, called Samsung Experience Shops, will have so-called Experience Consultants who’ll “assist with product demonstrations, basic product services, Samsung account set up, warranty registration and post purchase support,” the tech giant said in a statement.

Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America, said he hoped the new locations would give consumers interested in its products an opportunity “to learn how to leverage their mobile devices across our ecosystem of consumer electronics.”

Best Buy hope the tie-up will help to increase foot traffic to its stores and ultimately result in more sales as it seeks to revive its struggling retail business.

The move by Samsung and Best Buy comes in the wake of a successful trial run at one of its stores near Dallas. The tech company’s store-within-a-store will likely be located near the front of Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile outlets and cover as much as 460 square feet of floor space.

Consumers who prefer to shop online rather than transport themselves to faraway shopping malls will be delighted to learn they can still have a (kind of) Samsung Experience experience by hopping online from the comfort of their nearest sofa and visiting a new Best Buy/Samsung microsite offering product details as well as a full overview of the Samsung Experience Shop.

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Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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