AppleInsider Staff
Samsung mini-stores have begun launching in Best Buy locations across the nation, giving the South Korean tech giant a presence in the retailer previously held only Apple.
via Phandroid
Wednesday marked the beginning of Samsung's rollout for its Samsung Experience Shops, with Samsung execs showing up at the Best Buy in New York Square. Samsung CEO JK Shin joined Best Buy CEO Huber Joly in a launch event that featured Bruno Mars as entertainment.
First rumored in March, the Samsung Experience Shops were confirmed earlier this month by both Samsung and Best Buy. The partnership will begin with 900 mini-stores in Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile locations by early May. By early summer, Samsung expects to have mini-stores on site in 1,400 Best Buy locations across the United States.
The mini-store rollout was timed to coincide with the launch of the Galaxy S4, Samsung's new flagship smartphone. The Samsung Experience Shops — each taking up about 460 square feet — will be dedicated largely to Samsung's mobile devices, though they will also serve as a portal to Samsung's wider product line, showing off laptops, connected cameras, and accessories.
The move is aimed at improving Samsung's market share in the United States, where it trails Apple by 17 percentage points. Best Buy is the largest electronics retailer in the country, with locations within 10 miles of about 70 percent of the U.S. population. The Best Buy mini-stores, then, are a partial counter to Apple's sizable retail footprint in its home country.
Christine McKee
Stephen Silver
Charles Martin
Amber Neely
28 Comments
Samsung Experience. Sounds funny
In asia, restaurants have such kinds of tables where office-rushing people just stand and eat and go. :)
1) It doesn't look like a cheap copy of an Apple Store the way MS did it. 2) At least Samsung has plenty of kit to sell unlike MS who mostly sold other vendor's HW.
Too bad not that many people go into Best Buy. Every time I go to Best Buy and then to an Apple Store, there are more customers in the Apple Stores than there are in the Best Buy store and the local Best Buy is a HUGE store whereas the local Apple Store is one of their smaller ones. It's funny to see the Apple Store bustling with people even on a week day before lunch time, when the Best Buy is practically no one in the store other than employees. Another sign that Samsung tries to copy Apple. Oh well.
That looks like a huge space. I'm sure Best Buy needs the money.
Now at best Buy... The All New Hoover Windtunnel Experience! Come Observe All that our vacuums have to offer! Our new live exhibit: See how much our vacuums [can] suck! (no offense to hoover vacuum owners... I have one and it works great. I just wanted something to write:) ) Anyway, pretty soon BB won't have room for their other offerings with the ever increasing sub stores and experience centers they hold.