Microsoft Store - when will they learn?

Microsoft has opened a store. Actually, I think this is a good idea. They are losing market share and dominace over the category. They play in lots of places that people do nto relaize connect. They just launched Windows 7 (which is really Windows Vista Service Pack 3 - I guess they learned their lesson on that) and they have some "sharing" strories they can tell.

The true purpose of a "branded" store is not for customers. It should be for retailers! You want Best Buy to see how to dsiplay and demo your product in their stores. But alas, Microsoft, with all their rooms full of cash, fell far short of developing a brand experience that they can be proud of. But they did develop a brand experience that is relfective of their culture.

Below are the observations of a Scottsdale Microsoft store visit. They really emphasized the Microsoft Signature experience, where all of the free trial and crapware is not installed on any of the systems they sell. The storyline was similar when I asked an employee what the benefit was to buying a laptop there vs. Best Buy direct from the manufacturer like Dell and he immediately answered that it’s all about the Microsoft Signature experience vs. what you get from those other places.

1. Design – as noted in the press coverage, very much a copy of Apple’s store design, but it just doesn’t have the same refinement. The materials, the lighting, everything just felt Toyota-like as compared to say a Lexus-like experience at Apple

2. Traffic – it was about 6pm and there was four or five customers in the store and probably 15-20 or more employees. I wish there had been an apple store in this mall to compare traffic at the same time of day. The employees look pretty bored.

3. Software – in the back corner of the store there is a small software section with a mix of entertainment and security/utility titles with a couple of titles from Norton and Kaspersky. After asking one of the employees about the different type of software available, I learned that they have around 400 titles that are accessible via a touchscreen display (see attached photo) and you can select any of those titles and they will burn a CD with that software in their back room and install it for you if you wish, for an additional $49 of course. This was actually a good idea. Lots of titles with minimal space. However, unless someone tells you abotu it, you will miss it.

4. Laptop displays – the laptops are displayed in groups, each table representing a different group: netbooks, think and lights, featured systems (rotates, but current a Dell Studio model), large screen and gaming systems. Each of the displays seem to have the same image, optimized by removing all of the crapware and only leaving some of the basis oem-specific programs installed. This is called “Microsoft Signature”. All of the laptops on display are supposedly in stock and available for purchase and are all Microsoft Signature optimized. They also sell extended warranties on the laptops, these are branded as Microsoft extended warranties not the OEM extended warranties.

Overall, its easy to say that the Microsoft store is a terrific represenatation of the brand. Lots of good thinking, lots of poor execution, lots of lack of integrating or playing well with others. I could go on with other observations of the store experience, but the point here is to affirm that corporate culture is real and it shows up everywhere. Knowing the Microsfot culture the way I do, this store is exactly what I expected - underwhelming and unimpressive with lots of work to figure out.

Sound familiar?