Microsoft will take over large sections of 600 Best Buy locations in an effort to better reach consumers.
According to Microsoft, the new locations will be anywhere between 1,500 square feet and 2,220 square feet of solid Microsoft products. Though the areas will be branded as a Windows Store, the company plans to sell its complete line of consumer oriented products at these locations including things like the Xbox consoles, Windows Phone devices and Windows devices themselves.
“Well, unlike a lot of store-within-a-store concepts, this will actually be a department-level takeover within Best Buy stores. And they will be massive in size, up to 2,200 square feet in some locations. The other unique thing about the Windows Store is the people. There will be an additional 1,200 staff on hand to provide a great customer experience, whether it’s choosing the right PC or showing consumers how to stream Xbox music through their Surface. Finally, the online experience should be fantastic. We’ll have a full online Windows Store experience that will mirror the in-store look-and-feel and offer a full range of Microsoft products, even those from other places in the Best Buy store” –Chris Capossela, Chief Marketing Offer for Microsoft
Microsoft says Best Buy and Future Shop buyers in the United States and Canada should begin seeing the store areas later this month. The roll out will continue through early September.
The move should help to boost the company’s consumer products visibility. Right now, it only has 45 Microsoft Stores scattered across the world, making it likely that many users would be interested in getting hands-on time with Microsoft’s products, simply don’t live close enough to a store to do so.
