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Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

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Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#181

Post by KoftaBob »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #66
josephpmay wrote: post #16

I think one point people are missing: Apple stores, even if they exist mainly to promote the brand, are MASSIVELY profitable. In fact, they are one of the most profitable store chains in the world. By contract, I believe that Microsoft was always running most of their stores at a loss. Even for a massive company like Microsoft, continuously running an unprofitable division is hard to maintain.

This is purely anecdotal. Take it with a grain of salt. We have a "high-end" Simon mall, in a town near where I live. It's quite "upscale," with Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, etc. It has an Apple Store near the South entrance, and a Microsoft Store, near the center. The Apple Store is always packed. I haven't been there in a few months, so I have no idea what's going on with it at the moment, but it has always be…

Lemme guess, Roosevelt Field Mall? Sounds like my experiences at that mall.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#182

Post by WorldMaker »

simonh wrote: post #166
ptero wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems like the stores were a missed opportunity, but they always had the odds stacked against them. Odds were against Microsoft stores being profitable because Microsoft is now an underdog in consumer tech. If you want hardware (possibly with the exception of xbox; I just do not know, never had one), Microsoft is rarely the name that jumps to mind. But this is exactly why Microsoft should keep them (using some p…

But is it actually serving a purpose if not enough people are actually going into the stores, at the demos and playing with the toys? I don't think this is abandoning consumer tech. Their ~90% domination is still a thing. They gained it without stores, and the stores weren't helping them maintain it. There seems to be this cognitive lag where it seems like the stores should be a big deal, should be significant, givin…

I think that an interesting part of that lag is directly Windows Phone related. Phones seem to be the one consumer hardware product that customers "demand" a store to exist. Look at the retail landscape, other than big box electronics stores and office stores and Wal-Mart/Target, who is selling consumer electronics physically? There's a lot of strip malls packed with phone stores. People that want PC laptops/desktops mostly buy directly from OEMs on their websites. People that want Xboxes or PlayStations are fine grabbing it at Target, but more likely Amazon today.

Phones for various reasons (and a lot of them are phone carrier bureaucracy related, I would imagine) "need" that extra bit of handholding, that service relationship when buying one. Even Apple Stores, the vast majority of the store space is devoted to phone sales and services and laptops/desktops an after-thought. If you hear of lines and busy days of Apple Stores, it is almost exclusively phones.

Microsoft created their Stores just too many months too late to save the Windows Phone after the main US carriers decided 3 OSes was one too many options to carry in their own stores. Once Microsoft Stores were no longer selling Phones they always had less reason to exist, mostly existed already as either Xbox Experiences or shadow versions of (for instance) Best Buy's Surface section, without the rewards/brand loyalty of something like Best Buy.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#183

Post by askafriend »

otterpro wrote: post #86

I've been to MS store only once last year to buy a laptop that was on sale. It was a good and pleasant buying experience and the staff was very friendly. However, I noticed that there weren't a lot of variety of hardware on sale. I wish they had more computer stuff, like GPU, mechanical keyboards, motherboards, etc.... Imagine if they were like mini Micro-center, I'd bet they would've been a lot more popular than App…

> Imagine if they were like mini Micro-center,

Not to be rude, but this idea is out of touch. Basically no one would want this and the PC building market is impossibly tiny today. You'd get zero foot traffic.

No one is building their own computers anymore and those that are, are serviced incredibly well by Amazon/Newegg/etc.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#184

Post by smabie »

coliveira wrote: post #177

MS stores were created trying to emulate the success of Apple stores. However, from the get go this was a strange decision, since MS has no exclusivity on HW. Even Xbox can be purchased on other physical and online stores, sometimes at a cheaper price. They also don't provide support to a lot of this hardware, opposed to Apple that also uses stores as as service centers.

You can buy Apple products from other places too, though.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#185

Post by smabie »

nerdjon wrote: post #2

While I am not surprised, I am disappointed by this. Only because of the state of tech stores in Boston, if I needed something that wasn't Apple (gaming mostly) they were the only other tech store I could reasonably walk or take the train too. Microcenter isn't super close to a train station.

I always hated the trek to Microcenter in Boston. Made that walk countless times.

Though, I guess now I look back on it fondly.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#187

Post by bobsil1 »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #180
xphilter wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, but I kinda feel like the relaxed and comfortable atmosphere was more of an indication that the stores weren’t doing so hot. Every time I went to one is was because it was quieter and lower key than other stores. And I never actually wanted to buy things. Maybe that’s good(ish) marketing but probably doesn’t make good business sense.

I mean, these were obviously set up as a (marketing) counterpoint to the Apple stores, but Apple stores aren't just marketing. In any given mall, Apple stores usually have the highest revenue per square foot - they even beat out the jewelry stores. Microsoft was never going to be able to sell enough surface tables and xboxes for this to be viable long-term.

Agree. MS is mainly an OEM and enterprise co focused on TCO, etc. over consumer polish.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#188

Post by donatj »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #50

It is a shame, but not unexpected. I visited the one in the Mall of America, which was ironically directly across the Apple Store. The Apple Store had much more foot traffic every single time.

I kind of liked that they were right across from each other. Had a nice sense of competition. The Apple store moved to the other side of the mall about a year ago.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#189

Post by [deleted] »

fortran77 wrote: post #43
ethagknight wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know there is no point responding to such comments, but I was curious myself: iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch, AirPods, MacBook, iMac, Pencil, AppleTV, HomePod, the monitor, software products, cloud services, plus accessories to support the ecosystem. plus selling high margin extended warranties and financing. Most of those items are categories of products, not specific products themselves. Many of those products a…

They're not the #1 phone, they're not the #1 computer platform, they're not the #1 smart speaker, they're not the #1 monitor vendor, they're not the #1 streaming television dongle. I don't know how you can say "most are industry leaders in their respective segments."

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#190

Post by askafriend »

cycrutchfield wrote: post #58
fortran77 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not the #1 phone, they're not the #1 computer platform, they're not the #1 smart speaker, they're not the #1 monitor vendor, they're not the #1 streaming television dongle. I don't know how you can say "most are industry leaders in their respective segments."

Do you consider Old Navy to be an industry leader for apparel just because they pump out huge volumes of crappy clothes? The fact of the matter is that Apple is the biggest manufacturer of smartphones in terms of net profit, by far. It’s not even remotely close. That sounds like an industry leader to me.

To put a number on it, Apple books between 65-80% of ALL profits generated in the smartphone industry by selling phones.

Like you said....others are not even on the same planet. I think people really fail to understand the scale of Apple's success.

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