You may not have known it, but Microsoft has 83 brick-and-mortar stores in several Anglo-Saxon countries, including 74 in the United States, the others being distributed between Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Closed since the end of March due to Covid-19, they will not be reopened, reports CRN. However, the staff will be retained and will continue their activities online “while creating a pool of talent with transferable skills”.
The move comes almost 11 years after the publisher opened its first retail store in Scottsdale, Arizona in 2009 – the same day it launched Windows 7 – to better compete with the Apple Stores.
“The physical stores generated negligible retail revenues for Microsoft and, in the end, everything was moving more and more towards digital channels in recent years”, explains analyst Daniel Ives in a note consulted by our colleagues. “Microsoft stores were essentially” storefronts, “which was a smart strategy at the time, as more consumers could test software, Xbox, games, and play with new hardware there. That said, in this environment of Covid-19, it was a good time for Redmond to tear the bandage and close the stores strategically speaking, with a unique financial burden ignored by Wall Street. ” The financial charge – mainly write-offs and impairments of assets – is $ 450 million before taxes.
According to the company’s latest annual report, individual consumers mainly purchase Microsoft products through traditional retail outlets, and businesses through the partner network.
“We have seen strong growth on Microsoft.com and our Xbox and Windows digital storefronts, reaching up to 1.2 billion customers per month in 190 markets”, Microsoft Store vice president David Porter said in a statement. “We will make our digital storefronts the best place to learn, buy and receive software and hardware support. “
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