Google to Open Stand-alone Retail Locations This Year
In an attempt to sell more of its products, Google will open several stand-alone retail locations in the U.S. this year.
9to5 Google reported that a reliable source confirmed Google's plans and that the company wants to have these stores open for the holiday season in major metropolitan areas.
Google hopes that these new stores will help it to get the new Google Nexus, Chrome, and other upcoming products into the hands of prospective customers. The company wants to give these customers a hands-on experience with these products in order to entice them to purchase them. Google is also following in the footsteps of its competitors Apple and Microsoft who have already opened retail locations in the U.S.
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The closest Google has come to having a retail location is its small Chrome pop-up stores that are in hundreds of Best Buys in the U.S, and in 50 PCWorld/Dixon's in the U.K.
These pop-up stores have employees that are specifically trained to demonstrate the value of Chromebooks and can also answer any questions that people have before they purchase one. These employees are not there to hit huge sale targets, but to educate and inform people about the line of products. The transactions are handled by the store the pop-ups are located in, not the Chrome station.
9to5 Google believes that these new retail outlets will operate as physical version of its online stores such as the Google Play store. It provides direct service from Google to the customer, eliminating the middle man.
The company's Google Glass project sparked the idea to open these locations. In order to sell these new glasses, Google would have to allow customers to try them out first and physical stores would be the best place to have this happen. Google will also use these stores to debut its other groundbreaking products such as driverless cars and mini-drone delivery systems.
