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Why Google Should Open Retail Stores

This article is more than 10 years old.

Last week, 9to5Google reported that they learned from an “extremely reliable source” that Google plans to open retail stores later this year.

While Google hasn’t confirmed the rumor and, in fact, as recently as December the company insisted that it had no plans to open retail outlets, there are indications, such as the Chrome mini stores that have been launched at Best Buy in the US and Dixon’s in the UK, stand alone storefronts are the next logical step in its go-to-market strategy.

Opening retail outlets would be a smart move, for a host of reasons (disclosure: I own stock in Google).  Firstly, while Google still earns most of its income from search, it has become thoroughly invested in both mobile and the Web of Things, both of which are technologies that sit in the real world.

Even more importantly, we can expect the basis of competition in those categories to change rapidly over the next few years along the lines that Geoffrey Moore described in Crossing the Chasm.

As smartphone penetration has now passed 50% in the US and major European markets, future customers will come from the late majority consumers.  These will be much more conservative than "Innovators" and "Early Adopters"and therefore will require a considerably different approach.

If Google is to achieve its ambitions, they must become more than a great technology company, they will need to evolve into a great consumer company as well.

As Tim Cook of Apple recently explained, retail outlets are not just a mere distribution channel, they are the face of the brand, where people can discover new products, get more out of the ones they currently own and receive service when things go wrong.

Now that Google is planning to launch innovative new products such as Google Glasses and autonomous cars for the real world in addition to mobile phones, storefronts would play an important role in introducing new innovations to the general public.

Finally, the obvious: Competition is heating up and with both Apple and Microsoft investing heavily into their retail strategies, it doesn’t make sense for Google to remain at a disadvantage.

The future of tech will not be determined by early innovators and early adopters, but by everyday consumers, who value availability and convenience as much as tech enthusiasts covet functionality.

- Greg