Samsung touts ‘context’ with new WEM store

Samsung is bringing its rivalry with Apple to West Edmonton Mall as the South Korean technology giant opens a stand-alone retail store.

Opening in early January in Phase 2 on the second level, the 204-square-metre Samsung Experience Store will be the first in Alberta, following the success of one in Burnaby, B.C., which was North America’s first.

Another Samsung store is opening in Richmond, B.C., also in January.

The stores are showcases of Samsung’s growing lineup of consumer products such as smartphones, tablets, notebook computers and digital cameras.

The idea is for visitors to pick up and try each device and learn how it connects with other Samsung products.

“We needed to create a bit more context for the consumer so they can understand how they can do more and what it meant to their own individual lives,” said Nelson Lemos, director of retail excellence for Samsung Electronics Canada.

“We wanted to distil it down to things that are bite-size and real, so that people can understand the ability of using your Note 3 to screen-mirror a YouTube video of your son onto your TV. There’s some context to that as opposed to just saying our stuff connects together.”

Samsung stores differ from their competitors by being more boutique-like and offering dedicated training areas for photography and other subjects, and for partners such as telecoms to lead classes on their services. In-store service desks will eventually repair devices on the spot, Lemos said.

“Our ability of fixing that at store level is going to be a huge value-add for consumers.”

Samsung will open more standalone stores in markets such as Calgary, the Greater Toronto Area and potentially Montreal, but there is no timeline, Lemos said.

Samsung is also opening 33 smaller 58-square-metre Samsung Experience Shops, which are boutiques inside Future Shop and Best Buy stores, by the end of spring. One of the first shops is already open at the Edmonton North Future Shop.

Samsung will battle for tech-hungry shoppers at West Edmonton Mall with Apple, which launched the first of its two city stores in 2008. Technology giant Microsoft also opened its second Canadian store in Canada at the mall in October.

Kyle Murray, director of the School of Retailing at the Alberta School of Business, said companies are launching their own retail arms to better connect with customers.

“It’s a desire to control the value chain from the beginning to end — from manufacturing the product to selling it to the consumer,” Murray said. “That desire is driven by the realization that being the touch point with the consumer is incredibly important.”

It’s no coincidence that the three tech giants located stores in Edmonton, which has a young, affluent and growing population, he said.

“In Edmonton, West Edmonton Mall is seen as, if not the premium mall then definitely one of the premium locations. Given our wonderful weather, a lot of us tend to shop inside.”