Retail Outlets Open

The first retail Microsoft Stores have opened, giving Microsoft a new marketing vehicle and direct sales channel for Windows PCs, Xbox 360 consoles and games, and other hardware and software. The company has also updated its online store, which will sell PCs for the first time. Both the physical and online stores are selling so-called Signature PCs that are free from bundled trial software that often comes with new OEM PCs; instead they include a bundle of applications selected by Microsoft.

If You Want It Done Right…

Microsoft’s retail stores grew out of an initiative that the company launched with several retail partners, including Best Buy and Circuit City, in 2008. For that program, Microsoft designed a demonstration store near its headquarters in Redmond, WA, and tried to persuade retail partners to install similar “stores within stores” in their own outlets. The demonstration store featured hands-on displays of Windows PCs, other Microsoft products such as Windows Mobile phones and Xbox 360 consoles, and noncommissioned Microsoft employees (“gurus”) to advise consumers. It also resembled Apple’s retail outlets, which launched in 2001 and now number more than 250. Those stores have been widely praised for their layout and on-site technical support and have contributed to Apple’s resurgence in the last decade.