retail

The strange and inglorious history of tech boutique retailers

Last year, nearly as many people visited Apple's retail stores as went to Disneyland parks. That's something to marvel considering Disney has been in the amusement park business since 1955, and Apple's gadget stores are barely 12 years old. Apple's stores are also light on the cotton candy, fireworks, and bathrooms.

While there are plenty more differences between the two, one major similarity is that both companies have relied on these institutions as the ideal experience for interacting with their products.

In that same vein comes Samsung's latest foray into the retail business. Today, the company announced plans … Read more

What men really want: the choice of six engagement rings

I am told that buying an engagement ring is even more stressful than mustering the gumption to propose.

Choosing the right ring is an expression of who you are and what you feel. It can leave you a wreck, feeling like you should check into a halfway house for spiritual guidance.

An enterprising online jewelry brand called Ocappi would like to give you a chance of survival, an opportunity to finally impress your lover beyond standing next to her at a party and grinning like a stuffed fish.

Ocappi will send six rings of your choice to your home, so … Read more

Shopping is therapy, say more than half Americans

A decent shrink costs at least $100 an hour.

A decent pair of shoes can cost you the same and they last a lot longer. They understand you better too.

Surely, therefore, we shouldn't be surprised that more than half of all Americans admit that if they want to feel better, shopping is their chosen Xanax.

With just a click or two, you can be clicking your heels and forgetting the awful lover who told you that this was surely forever before becoming surly last night.

I have on my screen the results of a survey performed by TNS … Read more

Samsung launching mini stores in Best Buy shops, report says

Samsung may soon be launching mini stores within Best Buy stores, according to a new report, giving the Korean electronics giant some retail heft just in time for the Galaxy S4 launch.

According to Geek.com, certain high-traffic Best Buy locations will soon remove two aisles near their mobile departments to install new Samsung stores. Each section "will be dressed in large Samsung signage and offer custom demo stations for many of Samsung's products," the site said. Employees in each section will receive special training about how to demo Samsung-specific features.

The stores-within-stores will highlight the Galaxy … Read more

Microsoft opens more 'specialty' retail outlets

Microsoft is continuing to slowly and steadily add more brick-and-mortar stores to its roster -- but with a new twist.

Rather than opening nothing but full-service, large-scale locations, the Softies are adding more small-footprint "specialty store" locations across the U.S. and Canada. These specialty stores are what Microsoft has rechristened its holiday pop-up stores.

On the Microsoft Store Facebook page, Microsoft describes these specialty stores as "scaled-down Microsoft retail stores that carry a curated selection of the best products Microsoft has to offer."

In its full-size stores, Microsoft showcases and sells everything from a fairly … Read more

Walmart to tap in-store customers to deliver to your home?

Walmart is considering doing something that most people would find extremely radical.

The company is in the early planning stages of a service that would see in-store customers rent space in their vehicles and their time to the mega-retailer to deliver products it sells online. The move would combat same-day delivery ideas from Amazon and reportedly what's in the works with Google, which might have already signed on Target for such a service.

According to Reuters, which spoke with Walmart representatives on the idea, people would order products online. Walmart would then tap in-store customers willing to deliver products … Read more

Monoprice: A tech consumer's best friend? Or a copycat?

Reviewers have fawned over surround-sound speakers from Energy, a unit of the Klipsch Group.

Two years ago, CNET's Matt Moskovciak dubbed the Energy Take Classic 5.1 system "the best budget speaker system we've reviewed." The sound from the speakers is incredible, he wrote, and the $399 price tag unbeatable.

It was, anyway. A few months ago, upstart online retailer Monoprice debuted its 5.1 Hi-Fi Home Theater Satellite Speakers & Subwoofer system at $249. The speakers aren't just similar to the Energy system, and they don't just have the same dimensions and sound … Read more

Walmart to test product locker system at stores

Walmart plans to test a locker system at some of its retail locations this summer, the company said today.

The system, unveiled at a press event at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters this morning (via Reuters), will let people purchase items online, then pick them up in stores -- enabling customers to skip lines and guaranteeing that an item is in stock.

Amazon began a similar practice last year, in an effort to sell goods to people with hard-to-ship-to addresses. By shipping it to a locker, there's also a potential to save on shipping costs, and get items … Read more

Apple to triple its presence in India by 2015 -- report

Apple plans to dramatically expand the number of stores it'll allow to be opened in India over the next couple of years.

According to the India Times, Apple is planning to triple the number of "exclusive stores" in the country by 2015. The India Times' sources, who currently run some of Apple's exclusive stores, say that the iPad maker will have around 200 of those locations around India by 2015.

Apple operates its stores a bit differently in India than in, say, the U.S. In India, Apple has found 17 franchisees that operate stores that … Read more