Dive Brief:

• Handy, an online marketplace for home services, has partnered with high-end electronics retailer b8ta to offer smart device installation for customers at their San Francisco and Houston locations, according to an email sent to Retail Dive.

• Shoppers at these b8ta retail locations can book a Handy professional during their b8ta checkout process to setup and connect smart devices like lighting to smart home hubs and mobile apps.

• The b8ta customers can schedule appointments to occur between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. and the services are backed by Handy's insurance guarantee. 

Dive Insight:

Much has been made of b8ta’s experiential approach to retail marketing of technology products, which focuses on letting shoppers test products in-store. That's a critical, considering the high-tech and high-priced nature of its products. The company also represents many technology brands that don’t have store space of their own, which probably means they also don’t have any army of installers at their disposal, or much of a customer support mechanism.

That’s something that Handy is in a good position to provide. According to the company, it has served over 600,000 customers who have made three million bookings in 34 cities across the country.

The company has increasingly moved toward installation and support partnerships with retailers, having already forged similar partnerships with Wayfair and Walmart, according to reports at MoneyWatch and elsewhere. For Handy, these types of partnerships provide it with new business opportunities as Amazon swoops into the home services segment, especially in the tech installation department. In July, the e-commerce giant launched a service that could rival Best Buy’s long-standing Geek Squad services.

The competitive threat of Amazon is something that Handy and retailers have in common. As retailers try to fend off Amazon, working with a third party on installation and support services is one way they can offer more convenience to customers.