Microsoft Stores - Can they Compete with Apple?

Faced with the need for additional revenue streams, Microsoft corporation is planning to open a “small number” of retail stores, ostensibly to gather better insights into what customers truly want (apparently they are not hearing enough from Vista users…). To spearhead this effort, Microsoft has hired David Porter as VP of retail stores. Mr. Porter has recently served as the distribution manager for DreamWorks Animation SKG, but has spent a much larger part of his career as an executive at WalMart. Does this choice alone predict how successfully Microsoft will compete? Eight years after the opening of the Apple Store, will Microsoft’s efforts follow in the tradition of Vista or will they truly innovate the retail experience?

The folks up the road in Redmond have been testing out retail designs in their 20,00 square foot wharehouse. But the hiring of a former WalMart Exec suggests that the emphasis will be more on destination shopping strategies and efficient supply chain versus an inviting atmosphere and superior staff that one finds at the Apple stores. I imagine if an MS Store opens in Pioneer Square here in Portland, I’ll be standing in line with others, bringing in my laptop with the Vista OS and pleading with the MS sales staff to fix this @*&## thing! I doubt I’ll get much help.

And this raises a fundamental issue for Microsoft as well. The Apple Stores are designed to work wonderfully well in promoting the Apple products. People come in to try out the latest iPhone, iPod, etc. Microsoft will need people to come in and try out the newest version of their software, but will that draw them in. People love to play with new gadgets, not new operating systems.

 I wish them luck, but they will have to double down on the retail experience or face the equivalent of the Vista failure.

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