[btgusto]

I went to my Best Buy in east Houston tonight after work and I was NOT surprised by what I saw.

First off when you walk in the first thing your hit with is windows 8 computers display so that a good thing. But where is the surface. After walking around for a while looking and touching most of the windows 8 computers and laptops. I finally ran into the MICROSOFT SURFACE. It was hidden in a place that I would not have notice if I was a casual shopper. It was mixed in on the end-cap with the Lenovo yoga. I saw an older couple in there sixties walk by and say, "there it is" and promptly walked away and headed over to the brilliantly lit and white awesome display of the six ipads that were about 30 ft away. Oh! Don't let me forget to mention the big 60" TV was infront of the surface blocking half the aisle so it was like one person standing room only. there was another guy there trying to look over my shoulder at the one surface he and the TV was blocking the walking path so he moved on. So sad... so, so sad. Yet frustratingly angry.

[typhon62_1]

I'm telling you, Microsoft needs to go into BestBuy and crack some skulls.

[newfiend]

MS has never been good at marketing.. They need to have a good retail presence and this is not it.. They need to get some people on the street and in stores promoting its products. They need to educate the Store Employees. Until that happens this is what we will get. Come On MS.. get with the program and set up something to get this done! If you want to be a products and services company you NEED to do this. SOON!
newfiend~

[GhostITMG]

I bought my Surface (64 gigs YAY) at Best Buy in Portland, ME on Friday. They had no display up as they had just received them, but a crowd of sales people quickly developed around me as I bought it. The were all really excited. They told me I was the first sale. As the transaction was in process (it took a while as I was travelling and Chase fraud protection slowed things down a lot) they pulled out a couple more for displays and played with them while gushing over the specs. I'm sure, from what I've been reading, that my experience will be the minority, but at least not all the stores seem set out to hinder the Surfaces success.

[newfiend]

Here's another example of poor marketing on MS part.. They REALLY need to get this fixed! Microsoft News | My disgraceful Microsoft Surface experience at Best Buy
If they could fix the retail presence and the perception of the company to a lot of people they could do really well.. not that they don't do well already financially but Imagine how much better it could be if WP8, Win8 and the Surface had some good marketing and a stronger retail presence. MS needs to hire someone that's a marketing wiz and get this handled.

[hapishyguy]

It is also result of fanboyism....especially Apple....

[brmiller1976]

This is typical Best Buy.

Apple's display looks good because Apple pays for it all and sets it up. Anybody who wants a similar experience should just pay to set it up (and staff it) -- otherwise, their retail experience will look like that sorry photo.

[Ruined]

I'm telling you, Microsoft needs to go into BestBuy and crack some skulls.

I would not blame Best Buy. It is very clear that Microsoft did NOT intend to sell surface in Best Buy in 2013, and that Best Buy was just dumped a bunch of stock to try to move while people were buying for the holidays. If MS does not provide the marketing materials, you can't except BB to print them up themselves.

[jimski]

In-store marketing is a two way street. If a manufacturer ships a display/ marketing materials and a retailer chooses not to use it, not much you can do about it. Yes, some manufacturers will use third parties to come in and set things up, but that takes quite a bit of coordination.

Best Buy's store manager (the General) is the point person in this case. If he is not convinced displaying the Surface, or touch enabled Windows 8 devices in general, will increase traffic and sales in his store, then it won't happen. That's a loss for his customers, his associates, and his store. Lets see if the Best Buy brand can stay afloat long enough to figure this out.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express Pro

[brmiller1976]

Apple's displays in Best Buy and CompUSA in the 1990s looked similarly awful. Apple invested cash in the experience, and created the "store within a store" that became a template for the Apple stores later. Looking at sales since then, it's paid off.

There's no reason Microsoft cannot do the same thing. If you invest zero in customer experience, don't be surprised when the customer's experience is a big fat zero.