An "extremely reliable source" has reportedly told 9to5Google that Google will open stand-alone retail stores in the U.S. The company anticipates having its first flagship stores open for business in metropolitan areas by the holiday season, the source continued.
Google plans to both up its steady competition with perennial rivals Apple and Microsoft - both of which have stores of their own - and also present consumers with a hands-on experience viz. Google products.
"The mission of the stores is to get new Google Nexus, Chrome, and especially upcoming products into the hands of prospective customers," said 9to5Google.
Google has heretofore experimented with the material-world customer connection via its hundreds of Chrome-store-within-a-store models established in Best Buys throughout the country. These models allow for curious customers to speak with trained Google representatives who demonstrate Chromebooks for any interested party popping into a Best Buy.
This store-within-a-store model has also been employed in 50 PCWorld/Dixon's in the United Kingdom, and in 2011 Google partnered with Virgin to create a test run of "pop-up shops" in five major airports, including San Francisco's.
Considering Chrome SIS employees are not given sales targets (they are there namely to "educate") and due to Best Buy's/Dixon's own handling of its customers' Google product purchases, 9to5Google's source revealed Google Stores will be a "much broader play" than said demos.
Calling it merely "speculation," 9to5Google suggests that in addition to its typical product line, Google may also open the stores to sell its brand apparel and other ancillary products such as its toys, beanbags and glasses.
Its source confided in 9to5Google that Google's decision was largely based on its staunch belief that consumers will need a first-hand demonstration of the new Google Glass, which at $500 to $1000 retail, may seem a prohibitive chunk to spend on glasses, especially sight-unseen.
The decision to give buyers a chance to experience Google Glass widened the scope to sell other products in a brick-and-mortar fashion, with Google already hiring staff to develop Point of Sales systems.
As pointed out by Forbes, along with also being capable of being a hub for Google's Android partners such as Samsung and Acer, Google Stores could bring in a swell of revenue.
Apple's 400 worldwide stores may be costly, the Forbes analysis notes, but they also have the highest sales per unit area of any U.S. retailer.
"So stores can be a profitable undertaking in themselves," says Forbes.
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