I was going to begin this entry with a rather vitriolic: "You know those annoying Google pop-ups you always get - well now they're in physical store form!!" - but I thought that might be a tad mean-spirited; and anyway - I quite like some of those pop-ups. I once saw one advertising a package "Home-Gym and Sports Car" deal for only £12.50. Nice.
Alas, you won't find any gymnasium equipment or Lotus cars at Google's first outlet, which opened last weekend in the PC World store on Tottenham Court Road. What you will find however, is Google's Chromebook Laptop; the item which underpins the thinking behind the move into the high street.
80% of laptop sales occur in stores; and one can understand why by examining the internet's sales technique in evidence here, employing an aggressive dark blue 'BUY NOW' button to strong-arm the fragile public into a purchase. Contrast that with an in-store experience wherein customers can familiarise themselves with what is still regarded as a luxury product, and receive well-informed advice before taking the plunge.
The store design features the colours present in Google's chrome logo:
My initial impression of the layout is that, true to form, they have gone for a slick, modern concept with the curved tables and backless square seats. Drawing too many comparisons with Apple's stores is rather unfair after a first try - they have ten years on Google in terms of designing and operating physical stores; but it's clear that there is a slight element of attempted emulation here - and in my view, it doesn't quite land.
I don't know why - but when I first saw the design, I was reminded of the children's areas in places like DFS where I used to sit playing with Lego while my parents thrashed out a payment plan on their three-piece suite. Ironically, nowadays the children probably have Chromebooks to entertain them in such places - maybe that was the inspiration behind it?
Aesthetics aside, the idea is a smart (albeit belated) move from Google given the statistics - and with another similar store set to open in Lakeside this Friday, I wouldn't be surprised to see a great many more of these "Chromezones" popping up in the very near future.
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