Samsung hires Apple Store designer for its own retail efforts

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Samsung is said to be planning its own Apple-like retail push across the U.S., as the company recently hired an ex-Apple senior store designer, according to a new report.

flattery
Installation showing a sample Samsung Experience Shop at Best Buy. Courtesy of Samsung.


The alleged hiring of Tim Gudgel from Apple to Samsung's U.S. telecom unit is part of a "deeper investment in U.S. retail," two sources reportedly told Katie Benner and Jessica E. Lessin of The Information. Gudget is said to specialize in store design and planning, and previously worked for Gehry Partners.

Gudgel's public LinkedIn profile makes no mention of Samsung, but it does mention his previous employment with Apple. The architecture and planning expert is a graduate of Washington State University.

Samsung's existing retail plans involve nearly 1,500 mini-stores at Best Buy locations throughout America. Dubbed "Samsung Experience Shops," the designated floor space is similar to Apple's own mini-stores that have been found in Best Buy locations for years.

Samsung's apparent interest in entering the retail game brings it in the footsteps of another key Apple rival, Microsoft, which began opening its own stores to push hardware and software from the Redmond, Wash., company in 2009. Microsoft's own strategy has borrowed heavily from Apple, giving the stores a similar look and even choosing to be located in close proximity -- often the same mall -- as an existing Apple Store.

Though it does not have its own shops yet in the U.S., Samsung does have retail presences elsewhere across the globe. Last year, the South Korean company was criticized for opening a location in Australia that some said appeared very similar to Apple's own store floor plans.

And in 2011, a Samsung shop within a Euronics retail location in Italy was criticized for stealing Apple's own iOS application icons, including the App Store, for a wall display. However, those icons were put on display by Euronics and not by Samsung itself.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    Aren't their retail stores just going to be warehouses for off loading their unsold inventory so they can report higher "shipped" figures ;)
  • Reply 2 of 30
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Sammy just writes these joke by themselves. Security is on high alert at Jobs burial site.
  • Reply 3 of 30
    Hahaha...
  • Reply 4 of 30
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member

    One thing Samsung didn't copy is replacing faulty handsets on the spot, they send them off for repair and have no loan phones available at the Sydney store.

     

    I went in there and told them I was bored with my iPhone 5 and what would they suggest, which was the S4, so I pulled my S4 out of my other pocket and asked if that's all they've got because it was even more boring.

     

    The look on the speechless face, priceless as I left the store.

     

    I wonder if their tables will look like this:-

     

  • Reply 5 of 30
    pdq2pdq2 Posts: 270member

    Microsoft stores, take two.

     

    (Maybe Samsung's stores will sell refrigerators too!)

  • Reply 6 of 30
    Samsung: "We want you to take the Apple Store blueprints and make them 20% larger for our stores."
  • Reply 7 of 30
    Oh FFS. Is there no way of shaking these prats? Embarrassing. There's just no...*style* about them or their products, no *feel*. Lazy, second-hander, me-too imitation on all fronts. Horrible.
  • Reply 8 of 30

    Instead of a genius bar, they'll have a copy cat lounge. 

  • Reply 9 of 30
    Those damn Koreans are always just copying!
  • Reply 10 of 30
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I really don't see a problem with this. It's one thing to blatantly copy someone's else IP to make a direct product but to hire someone that helped create a great retail model for a competitor is fair game. In fact, I'd say it's a brilliant move in the right direction. Now if Samsung can actually realize they need to treat their customers in the short and long run by sweating the details even if means additional costs they will begin to comprehend why Apple has the following they have.

    sog35 wrote: »
    I bet $100 their employees will wear shirts that are a shade of blue.
    What a pathetic company.

    But green is the quintessential color for envy.
  • Reply 12 of 30
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    ilovestuff wrote: »
    Instead of a genius bar, they'll have a copy cat lounge. 

    That's actually not a bad name for a real lounge. :lol:
  • Reply 13 of 30
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member

    I don't see any of the Hyundai's as copying from Mercedes. I think inspired is a much better term to use here over copy or clone, but I'd say influenced is more accurate since I prefer to reserve inspired when it produces a creative impulse, not just a financial one.

    For a real example of a coping I'd look to Shuanghuan's clone of the BMW X5: http://www.autoevolution.com/news-image/bmw-loses-x5-clone-lawsuit-2772-1.html
  • Reply 14 of 30
    ceek74ceek74 Posts: 324member
    I'm sure it'll work out well for Sammy, just like it did for Don Johnson and JC Penney. People don't get the fact the one drone doesn't run the hive.
  • Reply 15 of 30
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    It irritates me that Samsung claim they wish to become a more popular and profitable smartphone provider (Lee Kun-hee obviously needs more yachts to water-ski behind than he currently has) and slavishly copy many superficial elements of the whole Apple experience yet, despite the fact that there are numerous sources of information, not to mention Apple themselves who have been quite clear in pronouncing that they focus on making a better customer experience and work backwards from there, yet Samsung still fail to grasp what is important and implement it.

    How can such large, successful companies have no clue about what their customers (or their potential customers) want?
  • Reply 16 of 30
    sennensennen Posts: 1,472member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    I really don't see a problem with this. It's one thing to blatantly copy someone's else IP to make a direct product but to hire someone that helped create a great retail model for a competitor is fair game. In fact, I'd say it's a brilliant move in the right direction. Now if Samsung can actually realize they need to treat their customers in the short and long run by sweeting the details even if means additional costs they will begin to comprehend why Apple has the following they have.

     

    Even if in of itself a legitimate and common business move, it simply acknowledges in formal terms what critics have been saying all along about the culture of Samsung.

  • Reply 17 of 30
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    sennen wrote: »
    Even if in of itself a legitimate and common business move, it simply acknowledges in formal terms what critics have been saying all along about the culture of Samsung.

    Culture can be learned and changes all the time. What Samsung (and many other companies) need to do is to stop focusing on the result and start focusing on the essence that achieved the result. They at least seem interested in this with that report from months ago about Samsung interviewing those waiting in line at Apple Stores so perhaps the end result will be positive. I applaud Samsung (and any other company or person) that is at least trying to improve themselves no matter how badly they miss the mark.
  • Reply 18 of 30

    Loving some of the replies in this thread.  Clever (and perceptive) folks.   ;)

  • Reply 19 of 30
    What is amazing is that neither Samsung nor Microsoft seem to realise it is not applestore floorplan which count (and it is in fact rather bland) but the experience you get from the inner culture and procedures. And their imitation of that is at best pathetic.

    That is a theater copying the background paintings, but trying to do another play in front of audience.
  • Reply 20 of 30
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Samsung: "We want you to take the Apple Store blueprints and make them 20% larger for our stores."

    No rectangles though ....
Sign In or Register to comment.