Google has opened its first retail outlet in Tottenham Court Road. The commercial property in London is situated in the heart of technology outlets, so Google should feel right at home. But is this the start of seeing Google both online and offline in the future?
The first Google store is only a small unit, which is situated in a Curry’s and PC World commercial property. The store is designed in Google colours to showcase Google’s ‘Chromebook’ and to allow people to have a play with it and get their heads around the device in a comfortable and bright environment. Google stated, “The Chrome Zone is designed to be as open, colourful and user-friendly as possible, and there are seating areas for shoppers to enable them to try out Chromebooks in comfort.”
The ‘Chromebook’, like the Samsung Series 5 model, have the following features:
The downfall to the device is that it has to be connected to the internet at all times; otherwise it is pretty much unusable.
Prior to the commercial property opening, Google only sold the devices in PC World and Amazon online. But Google decided that people should be able to physically play with the devices prior to purchasing if they feel they need or want to. Arvind Desikan, Head of Consumer Marketing at Google UK expressed, that Google “found anecdotally that when people tried [the Chromebook] and played with it, that made a huge difference to their understanding of what the Chromebook is all about. People will be able to go in and have a play with the devices. We want to see whether people understand what this device is all about and monitor their reaction when they try it out.”
If the pilot retail unit is a success, Google plans to open more commercial properties across the UK. To assist people with the ‘Chromebook’ experience, specially trained experts are on hand to offer advice and assistant about the devices. So far the scheme is going well as Mark Slater, Category Director at Dixons Retail expressed, “Initial customer response to the launch of Samsung’s Chromebook has been excellent and we are expecting a lot of customer interest now it is in-store.”
So a Google store could be popping up in a town near you very soon. But will you be converting to a ‘Chromebook’? Or are you a loyal Windows and Apple user?
