Best Buy unveils Dyson demo spaces in 90 stores

Dive Brief:

Best Buy on Thursday announced it will carve out space in 90 stores nationwide to dedicate to hands-on demonstrations of Dyson products, according to a company blog post.
The retailer is calling the spaces "Dyson Demo Experiences" because they're set up to allow customers to try out Dyson products as if they were in their own home, the company said.
The stores will also have specially trained experts to answer questions and assist with how products work or which products are best for customers' needs. The Dyson experience spaces will range in size, from 40 square feet to about 400 square feet, and Best Buy is also launching an "enhanced Dyson experience" on BestBuy.com.

Dive Insight:

Best Buy's Dyson effort is a quintessential example of using much-maligned brick-and-mortar stores to their best advantage. Plenty of research shows shoppers want an opportunity to check out merchandise, especially when it comes to apparel and electronics, before they buy.

“If you look at the statistics on consumer preferences, consumers actually like going to physical stores. There’s emotion that goes into a purchase, and they want to see an item, feel it, touch it,” Sam Cinquegrani, CEO of digital commerce solutions firm ObjectWave, told Retail Dive last year.

Dyson's products have a "wow" factor in both performance and design, but they're pricey, another reason why customers may need a demonstration to help them seal the deal. The retailer has also recently revamped its approach to smaller device sales like smartphones, connected-home products and other merchandise, and is testing a "try before you buy" program.

Best Buy continues to perform better than many other retailers, having reported modest first quarter sales growth, solidly beating analyst expectations.

“Dyson is a technology brand and the innovation they put into their products needs to be seen to be believed. It’s important for customers to see it, touch it, try it, and ask questions about it,” Kevin Balon, senior vice president of appliances at Best Buy, said on the company's blog. “Our new partnership with Dyson checks all of those boxes, giving Best Buy customers the unique opportunity to try out their state-of-the-art products for themselves.”