Microsoft Stores nowhere near as popular as Apple’s on Black Friday
Is it wrong that I find this hilarious? Perhaps. But still, Microsoft’s relatively new store in Lone Tree’s Park Meadow Mall was embarrassingly empty last Friday. Traditionally, the busiest and most frantic day of consumer action of the year. A video shot and edited by MacWeekend.com shows Microsoft’s store opposite an Apple retail unit. If the video isn’t enough to convince of the popularity of Apple vs. Microsoft, Gene Munster – the well known analyst from Piper Jaffray – did some head counting. The result of the survey: Apple sold five times the number of products each hour.
Key points – as noted by Fortune:
- There was 47% less foot traffic at the Microsoft (MSFT) outlet than the Apple (AAPL) store.
- Shoppers bought 17.2 items per hour at the Apple Store and only 3.5 items per hour at the Microsoft Store. All but two of the Microsoft purchases were X-Box games.
- Shoppers at the Apple Store bought an average of 11 iPads per hour. Despite heavy TV, print and billboard advertising for the new Microsoft Surface, not one was sold sold during the two hours team Piper Jaffray spent monitoring that store.
We could speculate all day long about why Apple does much better than Microsoft. But, the truth is that it’s most likely a combination of factors. Firstly, no retail store matches Apple’s level of quality in terms of service in every area. Secondly, Microsoft hasn’t had a lot of time to establish its brand on the high street yet. Thirdly, there’s nowhere near the level of hype surrounding Windows products, since they’re generally “the norm”.
What do you think? Have you been in to a Microsoft store yet? Did you buy anything?
I have not seen a full Microsoft store yet, only their mini-counters in malls. The presentation is eye-catching, the Surface is eye-catching, and of course there's always reason to appreciate a place to temporarily check your email and browse the Internet on a device. But despite having youngish sales people in colorful t-shirts, their counters never seem to have the buzz of an Apple counter/table. The people in the colorful Microsoft shirts are rarely engaged with the shoppers, and they don't seem to want to be engaged. Many Apple specialists can be equally apathetic, but the vast majority are always busy or eagerly trying to offer help. The other aspect of Microsoft counters I can't believe is they secure their devices by anchoring them down in a way that you can't fully experience them, and they put them in a position where sales people hover right over you. Those are two not-so subtle barriers that Apple did away with in leaving their devices mostly free-floating with almost the exact same power cable that comes with the device holding it to the tables. And they're always fully-stocked and ready to go with software/apps that matter. And Apple's stores have been like this from day one.
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