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Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

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Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#91

Post by lotsofpulp »

AgloeDreams wrote: post #71
Octoth0rpe wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their reasons for existing were the same as the ones you listed for Apple stores: Brand, hands on, direct sale. I'd also add that they serve as a place where buyers believe that they can get support on product, thus increasing their trust in the product. That's an incredibly valuable thing IMO.

Totally agree for Microsoft product owners. One of the hard things for MS I think is that the Apple store was successful because you couldn't get a Mac in the past anywhere else and it was a good experience that really set the tone of the Mac. Then the iPhone and iPod happened, that blew up the Store market for Apple. Microsoft doesn't have an iPhone, didn't have a successful consumer market beyond the Xbox and most…

> They have a major uptight brand problem, maybe the Mac v PC ads helped cause that, perhaps

Maybe because the standard advice given when purchasing a Microsoft device was to spend hours reinstalling Windows to remove malware. I know technically it was HP or Dell or Sony’s device, but since there was no non malware option, obviously Microsoft chose to let those brands sully Microsoft’s brand for a few dollars in short term profit.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#92

Post by loydb »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #73
bredren wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw Ron Johnson speak around 2012 in San Mateo. He oversaw the initial rise of the Apple Store. I remember him saying Jobs told him there was basically an unlimited budget to make the stores a success. The difference is it only took Apple three years to reach $1B in annual sales.

> The difference is it only took Apple three years to reach $1B in annual sales. It took far more than that to earn the trust of consumers. Microsoft decided to sit back, collect rent on Windows/Office, and let other business do the hard work of customer service and let their customers deal with malware on their laptops. Contrast with Apple, who put customer service front and center, opened stores that my parents cou…

> Microsoft had all the cash in the world to make it happen. But instead, they put Candy Crush in the start menu.

And got rid of Pinball. :(

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#93

Post by gipp »

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…

Sure, but a large portion of the Apple store crowds has always been people just hanging around and goofing off on the laptops. IIRC it's policy in those places to always let people do that however long they want, even if there's clearly no intent to buy anything. I've always wondered what portion of those crowds are actually customers.

EDIT: Yes, everyone, I understand the marketing and lifetime-value reasons for doing that. I'm just questioning the value of comparing crowd sizes as a direct measure of relative instantaneous revenue/success.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#94

Post by vorpalhex »

AlphaWeaver wrote: post #21

This is a real shame. We have (had?) a Microsoft Store in the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham), and my visits to that store were always really enjoyable. I made several warranty claims in-store, and they went above and beyond to help me out, even when my grounds for a claim were kinda shaky. Microsoft did a really good job of hiring diverse talent, and every store-clerk I ever interacted with was smart, nice, and seemed to…

Same as my experience. While it was admittedly usually dead inside my local store, the clerks were happy to hang out and talk shop, super generous with freebies like t-shirts and the actual buying process was very smooth. As much as I complain about Microsoft, they did a very good job with their stores.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#95

Post by limeblack »

In my opinion this is linked to the shutdown of windows phone. If you haven’t been following it it went from Windows Phone is dead[1]. To Bill Gates use Android[2]. Subsequently Windows Phone was removed from the Microsoft Store.

[1]: https://windowsphone.stackexchange.com/questions/16686/as-20... [2]: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/26/16365424/bill-gates-andro...

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#96

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

gipp wrote: post #93
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sure, but a large portion of the Apple store crowds has always been people just hanging around and goofing off on the laptops. IIRC it's policy in those places to always let people do that however long they want, even if there's clearly no intent to buy anything. I've always wondered what portion of those crowds are actually customers. EDIT: Yes, everyone, I understand the marketing and lifetime-value reasons for doi…

That happens in many stores. I call them "store groupies." Around here, vape stores have them in droves. I remember them hanging around Science-Fiction bookstores; often using the back rooms to have D&D games.

I think that every one of them becomes a customer, eventually. Many of them become evangelists, which can sometimes be even more valuable.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#97

Post by lotsofpulp »

nitrogen wrote: post #78
aczerepinski wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t forget LinkedIn profile photo booths! (not kidding, I saw one when I walked past my local MS store)

This seems like the kind of corporate nightmarish product that could only arise from those two. Even if the "value add" was a pro-level photo to boost job offers, why are we using photos for job offers in the first place?

Good looking people cause enjoyable chemical reactions to occur in people’s brains. If you take two identically qualified people, the person who appears/sounds more pleasing to the buyer will win the business. It’s part of nature, for better or for worse.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#98

Post by syspec »

jccalhoun wrote: post #77
chadcmulligan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I guess waiting for Genius appointments I'm convinced this is deliberate - the apple store is full of blue shirts and people waiting for their appointments / devices to be fixed. It makes the shops look like they're busy, most shops would not make people wait around like that for things to be fixed, but apple gets away with it somehow. It's all very clever - I call it apple theatre, and yes I participate myself. I'…

Is a busy store a positive thing for most potential customers? Even before social distancing if I would see a crowded store I would not want to go in.

Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#99

Post by AgloeDreams »

fortran77 wrote: post #37
DJBunnies wrote: post #4

These stores always seemed like a desperate attempt to copy apple. Which would be fine if they had product lines that were interesting. But they don't.

The Surface, Hololens, and XBox aren't "interesting"? Stop it.

Xbox totally is...But I honestly don't think many (normal, not HN or tech) people associate the Xbox brand with Microsoft so strongly. Maybe somewhere down the stack of other things but many likely associate 'Windows' or 'Office'.. which of course is not interesting at all to the normal person.

Plus the average person has no idea what Hololens is and the Surface brand is not actually strongly associated as well (at least it's not the first three things a customer thinks).

Basically to the average person it seems like a `Best Buy that sells less cool stuff`.

In comparison, the first things when people think of Apple is 'iPhone' followed by 'iPad', and 'Mac'; all of which outsell the Surface Brand multiple (or in the case of the iPhone, hundreds of) times to 1.

If Microsoft opened Xbox stores.. I actually would expect success.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#100

Post by lotsofpulp »

jccalhoun wrote: post #77
chadcmulligan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I guess waiting for Genius appointments I'm convinced this is deliberate - the apple store is full of blue shirts and people waiting for their appointments / devices to be fixed. It makes the shops look like they're busy, most shops would not make people wait around like that for things to be fixed, but apple gets away with it somehow. It's all very clever - I call it apple theatre, and yes I participate myself. I'…

Is a busy store a positive thing for most potential customers? Even before social distancing if I would see a crowded store I would not want to go in.

It’s a positive thing for the very reason this thread exists. Microsoft stores are now shutting down. If I’m investing time into a product line, I am interested its continuance.
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