Yep! You beat me to it. I wonder if it would be possible for some big brands like Dyson, Samsung, etc. to band together and maintain the retail show rooms. Perhaps a new holding company could be formed to manage the real estate on a more "Walmart" like 2-3% margin with the HW companies bearing most of the cost of retail, but also gaining a much larger chunk of margin.
I think retail is going to become a very interesting space over the next 10 years as the Big Box model gives way to an Amazon same day solution on one side and a high touch, high service model on the other.
I read somewhere that JCPenney is shifting to a strategy like this for clothing brands. The stores will start to shift to a cluster of mini-showrooms that each showcase a different brand. My first thought when I heard this is that the brands that are strong enough to be successful in this format would have already have their own store in malls.
I think such a strategy would only work for marquee brands. Apple can get away with a store with nothing but Apple products, but I wouldn't want to buy a TV from a store that only sold LGs. I would want to compare across brands since there is little to differentiate an LG from a Sharp or Samsung.
Comments
Yep! You beat me to it. I wonder if it would be possible for some big brands like Dyson, Samsung, etc. to band together and maintain the retail show rooms. Perhaps a new holding company could be formed to manage the real estate on a more "Walmart" like 2-3% margin with the HW companies bearing most of the cost of retail, but also gaining a much larger chunk of margin.
I think retail is going to become a very interesting space over the next 10 years as the Big Box model gives way to an Amazon same day solution on one side and a high touch, high service model on the other.
I read somewhere that JCPenney is shifting to a strategy like this for clothing brands. The stores will start to shift to a cluster of mini-showrooms that each showcase a different brand. My first thought when I heard this is that the brands that are strong enough to be successful in this format would have already have their own store in malls.
I think such a strategy would only work for marquee brands. Apple can get away with a store with nothing but Apple products, but I wouldn't want to buy a TV from a store that only sold LGs. I would want to compare across brands since there is little to differentiate an LG from a Sharp or Samsung.