Samsung eyes Apple’s retail success, plans store expansion in Canada

In a bid to establish a foothold in the retail market, Korean electronics giant Samsung appears to be looking to push forward with its large retail strategy and open a number of new outlets in Canada, as it seeks to capitalise on the strength of its consumer brand and build relationships with its customers.

The Calgary Herald reports that Samsung will open own branded stores later this year, also rolling out smaller Samsung ‘Experience Zones’ and store-within-a-store kiosks in larger retail outlets (much like Apple does with Best Buy) and feature products including its smartphone, tablet and televisions.

The news comes soon after the Korean vendor opened a new store-within-a-store presence at a Phones 4U outlet in London’s Oxford Street, serving to educate customers on and show off new Samsung mobile devices.

Samsung Electronics Canada president James Politeski told the Canadian newspaper:

“We definitely want consumers to experience the Samsung brand in a way that they have not experienced it before.

We want them to see everything that Samsung can bring to them … we want to give consumers the opportunity to experience the brand and the products in a way that they’ve never seen before, that really takes that experience up.”

According to Politeski, the retail stores will feature the same branded design and Samsung will train employees on its product line-up.

It draws parallels with Apple’s own retail experience, but Samsung isn’t going to operate its own stores, instead it will outsource it to third-party companies. Samsung’s idea is that it will help show consumers everything the company has to offer, without needing to “take an aggressive approach.”

You could read that as the company wants to see how they perform before committing to a dedicated retail store expansion.