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Retailer News

Xiaomi and ABC Data Open Warsaw Mi Store

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Xiaomi and ABC Data Open Warsaw Mi Store

Xiaomi, together with distribution partner ABC Data, opens a first authorised Mi Store in Warsaw offering a full range of products, including smartphones and ecosystem devices, from the Chinese company.

The retail outlet is located in the ground floor of Arkadia, the largest shopping mall in Poland. It was visited by 2800 customers on the first day of operation. As an upgrade on the Mi Zone shop/showroom combo opened back on June 2017 in the Polish capital, the Mi Store is found in the ground floor and covers an area of 102 square metres.

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Apple Closes Last Watch Pop-Up Store

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Apple Closes Last Watch Pop-Up Store

Apple aficionados have until 13 May 2018 to check out the last pop-up store dedicated to the Apple Watch-- the shop found in the Isetan department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

The Tokyo pop-up was opened to inaugurate the 2015 launch of the smartwatch. It was one of three such pop-ups dedicated to the Watch, and following the closure of the Paris and London stores, is the one that survived the longest. Admittedly by now it is on borrowed time, since Apple opened a proper Store in Shinjuku, just across Isetan, earlier in April 2018.

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The "Store-as-a-Service" From b8ta

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The

b8ta, the US CE retail startup by former Nest employees, promises to make opening brick-and-mortar stores easier with "Built by b8ta"-- a software solution promising to bring about the store-as-a-service.

The startup opened a first 130-square-metre space located in Palo Alto, California, in 2015. It allowed customers to check out devices on a hands-on basis, with employees demoing products such as drones, security cameras and VR headsets. Fast forward to 2018, and b8ta now has 79 outlets, including shop-in-shops. It also claims to have "the process of opening stores down to a science, from financing to real estate to construction and staffing and beyond."

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Salt Lake City Gets First New Best Buy

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Salt Lake City Gets First New Best Buy

Best Buy appears to be confident in its recovery-- so much so that, according to Star Tribune, it plans to open a first new big-box store in the US in 7 years, a 3344-square-metre outlet in Salt Lake City.

Set to open in Q3 2018, the store located in a mixed-use lifestyle centre called Station Park, and is around 24km away from the nearest Best Buy.

So far Best Buy has only confirmed the opening of this one store, but it does seem it has emerged from turnaround. After all, Q4 2018 was its best quarter since Q4 2004, with same-store sales growing by 9% Y-o-Y. The retailer attributes such results to the success of the Best Buy 2020 strategy, as well as efforts to improve in-store experience, decrease employee turnover and increase training.

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Katie Bikerstaffe Leaves Dixons Carphone

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Katie Bikerstaffe Leaves Dixons Carphone

Dixons Carphone UK and Ireland head Katie Bikerstaffe announces her departure from the retailer, just 4 years after the merger between former CE retail rivals Dixons and Carphone Warehouse.

The announcement makes Bikerstaffe the 3rd senior management member to leave the retailer in less than 3 months, following CEO Seb James and group finance director Humphrey Singer. She has been the CEO of Dixons Warhouse UK arm since the 2014 merger, and previously held roles in Univelever, Kwik Save, Somerfield and Dyson.

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Smart Assistants: Cause of Consumer Crisis?

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Smart Assistants: Cause of Consumer Crisis?

According to a SmarterHQ survey there is a neat split between the two big smart assistants-- 44.4% of respondents own an Amazon Alexa device, while 43.7% own a Google Home product. The rest (11.9%) use the Apple HomePod.

The survey covers the omnichannel shopping habits of 1000 adults in the US. It shows consumers are increasingly distracted as they hop from channel to channel, and smart assistants only add to the issue. As a result, it is increasingly difficult to retain customer loyalty, even as brick-and-mortar stores remain the most popular place to shop.

“Consumers view all the channels they shop on-- online, in-store, through social media, or via assistant home devices-- as a single point-of-contact with a brand, yet many retailers still treat these channels as disparate systems that aren’t connected,” SmarterHQ says. “This puts pressure on marketers to make the brand experience a consistent one, no matter the channel. Without a marketing strategy that includes customer identity resolution, brands risk losing buyers to the more targeted and personalised campaigns of their competitors.”

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More Job Losses as Maplin Loses Hope

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More Job Losses as Maplin Loses Hope

Administrator PricewaterhouseCooper announces more job cuts at Maplin-- specifically 66 more redundancies at the London and Rotherham head office-- as hopes for salvation for the retailer get even dimmer.

“It is with real regret that we have made this decision," the administrator says. "We are grateful for the support of the employees during this difficult period and we will make every effort to help the affected staff, working with the Maplin HR team over the coming days.”

PwC had already fired 63 head office staff earlier this month, bringing the total number of redundancies to 129. Maplin currently has 79 head office staff left, and employs over 2000 workers in 217 stores, none of which have been closed as yet. That said, closures could start any time this week should the administrators fail to find a line of rescue.

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Little Hope Left for Saving Maplin

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Little Hope Left for Saving Maplin

Hopes for saving Maplin fade further, as administrator PricewaterhouseCooper announces it has made 63 head office staff from the retailer's London and Rotherham HQ redundant.

“It is with real regret that we have made this decision," PwC says. "We are grateful for the support of the employees during this difficult period and we will make every effort to help the affected staff, working with the Maplin HR team over the coming days. The company is continuing to trade but due to a lack of interest we may be required to initiate a controlled closure program.

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Microsoft Plans London Flagship Store

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Microsoft Plans London Flagship Store

Microsoft announces plans to open a first flagship store in Europe-- specifically in Oxford Circus, London just up the road from the recently redesigned Apple flagship store.

The Windows maker reportedly started scouting for a brick-and-mortar store location in the British capital back in 2015. The location it managed to find is currently occupied by United Colours of Benetton and, as one surely knows, sits in an extremely popular shopping area hosting flagship stores for the big likes of Nike and H&M, among others.

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