ifoAppleStore
October 31, 2009 8:15 AM
by Gary Allen
Microsoft Opening Contrived, Store Lacks Depth
The grand open of the second Microsoft retail store in Mission Viejo
(S. Calif.) on Thursday was attended by a throng of screaming teenage
girls attracted by a pop singer, Microsoft executives in business
suits and and a group of adults who were curious about what the store
would look like. The company used a Justin Bieber concert as the
cornerstone of their buzz campaign, a strategy that may have cost
local schools district of thousands of dollars in state funding
because eager teens skipped school to wait in line for concert
tickets. What everyone saw when the white curtain came down in front
of the store was a brightly-lit retail space with all the appearance
of expense and quality, but actually composed of white paint, cheap
wood and enough similarities to the Apple stores for any objective
judge to rule the store is a “rip off.”
View a gallery of photos from the grand opening.
While all the excitement was focused on the Microsoft store, just 360
feet away the Apple store was closed, and covered with a black
construction barricade. The store is undergoing a major remodel,
bringing it up to 2009 standards. The store opened in February 2004.
About 70 persons waited overnight in line outside the store overnight.
They were let inside about 7:30 a.m., and the crowd grew slowly to
about 280 by the time Microsoft COO Kevin Turner cut the red ribbon
at 10 a.m. After the store opened, the line remained at about 250 for
the next hour, as visitors entered the store and new visitors joined
the line. By 9:15 a.m. the line began to grow shorter, and at exactly
9:49 a.m. no more persons were in line.
The store itself is 60 feet wide, and the storefront is all-glass,
providing an inviting view to the inside. The store is only 60 feet
deep, so the interior doesn’t feel expansive. Wood floors and tables,
bright ceiling panels and scores of laptops greet visitors when they
come inside. Most conspicuous from any angle are the 120 47-inch video
displays that line the two side walls. Sometimes the displays show a
single image over the entire length of the displays, while at other
times they show independent images.
The store is organized into four areas, although it’s not completely
obvious to visitors. Within each area there is a Microsoft Surface
device for visitor exploration. Display tables are organized into rows
front-to-back. Display counters run along the side walls from front to
almost-back. At the rear of the store are small product displays,
including software, burn-to-order software, Xbox and computer carrying
cases.
Also at the back of the store is the “Answers” counter, and behind
that is a theater area with sit-down counters for training. A short
table with laptops at the back is intended for exploration by children.
The tables are medium-tone blond wood, topped with a dark-brown,
textured material. Some tables have receipt printers attached
underneath, while others have shopping bag dispensers.
The side display counters are dark-brown and curve in-and-out as they
run the depth of the store. Shorter stools are placed at various
intervals.
A floor-to-ceiling, double-glass panel is positioned directly behind
the Answers counter, providing some isolation for the training area.
Raised sign letters on the glass indicate the “Answers” counter
location, but the color of the letters blends in with the background,
making the wording almost invisible.
Curvy white acrylics were located next to each displayh laptop to hold
information cards—no desktops here. Some other product displays
appeared to be made of dark grained wood, including a Windows 7 box
holder.
The stools are made of the same mid-tone blond wood as the tables.
They have a square seat with a cut-out hole for handling the stool.
The children’s table had similar, very short seats.
The Wait & Opening
The waiting line began at the mall entrance at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, by
a woman over 30 years-old who said she was saving a place for her
daughter. However, she did express some curiousity for the Microsoft
store herself. Several teen girls made up the next 10 to 15 positions,
followed by a mixed group of 30-ish men, fathers, more teens and
mothers. All were wrapped in blankets or snuggled into sleeping bags
to protect against the low-50s cold.
The line reached 60 persons at about 10:30 p.m., and grew to 75 by
midnight. The line snaked past the three portable toilets brought in
for the occasion, and stayed at 75 until about 5:30 a.m., when more
persons began to slowly arrive.
At least one person from the waiting line reported receiving a Zune
from Microsoft. It’s not clear if anyone received such a gift. At 11
p.m., Microsoft came outside and handed out free copies of Windows 7
to those in line, which numbered about 75 at that point.
Once inside the warmer mall, some in the waiting line sat down again
and tried to nap, while others stood. Microsoft employees came around
pulling Red Flyer wagons loaded with Clif Bars and bottled water.
There was some chanting from inside the store, but a white cloth
blocked any view of the activity.
During the wait, stores employee threw and handed out white T-shirts
with the retail logo on the front and “Microsoft Store” written on
the back. All the while they were trying to pump up the crowd for the
opening. After the store opened, they were handing out black “Bing”
T-shirts to visitors inside the store.
As the 10 a.m. opening time approached, up to 50 Microsoft employees
in suits or casual business attire began lining up across from the
store. They wore “ALL ACCESS” badges on lanyards or clipped to
their clothing, took pictures and shook hands with each other. Some of
the employees already had the small shopping bags that Microsoft later
handed out to hold the concert ticket wristbands.
Among those spoted in front were Michael Forrest, a former Apple store
manager, and George Blankenship, former V-P Retail Real Estate.
Forrest is now Microsoft’s Sr. Director of Customer Experience, while
Blankenship reportedly is a paid consultant for Microsoft.
Just before 10 a.m. Kevin Turner appeared in front of the store with
10 to 15 other executives in business suits. He thanked the crowd and
community, acknowledged Mission Viejo mayor Frank Ury, and said
Microsoft was into retail “for the long haul.”
He then made the second in a round of donations to the YMCA of Orange
County and Goodwill Industries. At the Scottsdale (Ariz.) store
opening last week, he made similar donations to those organizations
there.
In this case, Microsoft gave $50,000 in cash and $1 million in
software to the YMCA, and gave $50,000 in cash and $500,000 to Goodwill.
Just before Turner cut the red ribbon, there were about 280 persons in
line, with perhaps another 200 spectators in front of the store. Local
press reports of “more than 1,000 people” in front of the store
waiting for the opening were inaccurate.
The Store
While the Microsoft stores may resemble the existing Apple stores in
some measure, they lack an element that has been a critical for
establishing Apple’s brand—quality. For every architectural element
that Microsoft has duplicated from Apple’s stores, they have failed
to copy the materials, craftsmanship and pride that go with them.
The similarities of the Microsoft store to what Apple has already
accomplish is remarkable. The general layout of the store, the
storefront, the lighting, floor and product displays are common
between the two companies. Beyond that, there are extraordinary
similarities: the employee name tags and their lanyards, the under-
table bag dispensers and receipt printers, the Answers counter and its
configuration, the use of mobile computers for POS, the children’s
table, and the identical nature of Microsoft’s store services:
extended warranty, personal shopping and training. Microsoft even has
an on-line reservation system for its in-store service and training.
One architectural difference is obvious: a line of support columns
interrupts the interior, running from front-to-back just left of the
centerline of the store. Such an interruption is something that
Apple’s architects would not tolerate.
In a world where retail design has become a profession and industry,
it’s difficult to understand how an independent retail designer could
have arrived at the same store solution as Apple. In fact, thousands
of retailers have sought out ways to distinguish themselves from
competitors, hiring experts to design unique methods of displaying and
selling their products. In this case, Microsoft’s solution appears to
be Apple’s, too.
But despite the appearance, the depth is missing. There is no bead-
blasted stainless steel on the storefront, only white-painted
wallboard and glass. And that glass isn’t the expensive low-iron
variety Apple uses to insure passersby see the store, not the glass.
There is no Italian stone or rich wood on the floor. The walls and
ceiling are simply white-painted wood. The wood of the floor appears
to be laminate, and wood on display tables and stools looks common and
dull.
Does all this make a difference to the store visitor? It must, because
retailers are willing to pay millions of dollars to create stores with
distinction and quality, reflecting their brand.
The employees do use an advanced Samsung ultra-portable computer for
point-of-sale duties (the Q1EX-71G?). The device is rather large when
combined with a credit card reader. Staffers use a mini-sized Opticon
barcode reader, linked to the Samsung with Bluetooth, and tethered to
the employee by a retractable key-fob device.
The Surface devices are very interesting, but their abilities are not
intuitive. The laptops are hooked up to the Internet for exploration,
and the Xbox area is live with large-screen displays for playing.
Because the store was very crowded, it was impossible to determine if
the store lay-out was optimum, and if customers can efficiently move
throughout the store.
In the end, the store itself isn’t remarkable, and Microsoft is left
mostly to sell and support hardware made by someone else.
This Attraction Cost Money
Despite the the $1,600,000 that Microsoft donated to community groups,
the grand opening may have taken a bite out of the budgets of local
school districts.
Microsoft handed out concert wristbands to the first 1,000 people who
requested them at a back counter. By noon, employees were still
handing out wristbands to mothers, grandmothers, some fathers and
teens who asked for them. Two girls in the waiting line wore pink T-
shirts they had customized with words to express their devotion to
Bieber (pictured), including “#1 Fan” and “I (heart) Justin
Bieber.” One girl hugged a pink binder decorated with cut-out
magazine photos of Bieber.
During the pre-opening 3-1/2 hour wait, the store staff appeared in
front of the store, at times dancing or leading the crowd in chants.
As the opening grew nearer, television news videographers arrived. At
one point a Microsoft employee teased an otherwise quiet group of
teenage girls standing to the left of the door into screaming so the
cameraman could tape their inauthentic excitement for the store.
There were many adults present who were simply there to obtain concert
tickets for their child or grandchild.
However, several teens admitted to skipping school for the day to
obtain the tickets and attend the 5 p.m. concert. Their absence at
school could have cost the school district thousands of dollars.
California funding for local public schools includes a calculation of
each student’s average daily attendance over the school year.
Students with perfect attendance generate full payments from the
state. Student who are absent reduce state payments by a percentage.
For very large districts, even a five percent annual absence rate can
substantially impact total funding, sometimes cutting tens of millions
from the state funds.
The Saddleback Valley Unified School District, where Mission Viejo
children attend school, receives about $5,300 per student in annual
funding, according to district records. Based on those figures, each
one-day absence by a student costs the district about $30 in state
funding. In this case, if 300 students skipped school to obtain Bieber
concert tickets, the school district would have lost $9,000 in state
funds.
The Similarities
When examined in detail, the Apple and Microsoft stores share many
similarities. How could independent minds arrive at the same solution?
On IFO’s zero to 100 scale of “Identicality,” the Microsoft
stores score 97.
new-stores
Sent from my iPhone
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