Samsung has reached an agreement with Carphone Warehouse to transform stores across Europe in to dedicated venues for the company’s products. The phone retailer, which has roughly 2,000 stores across Europe, has agreed to make Samsung a ‘preferred retailer’ and sell only Samsung-related products in 60 stores. The dedicated outlets will “have a premium look and feel” and span “products across Samsung’s full range of mobiles, tablets, laptops and wearables.”
Samsung is to open 60 standalone stores across Europe in partnership with Carphone Warehouse in a direct challenge to Apple. The outlets, fitted out with minimalist white and blue interiors, will sell Samsung’s full computing range from laptops to tablets, phones and smart watches. Between 10 and 15 of the shops are expected to be in the UK – with the rest in Ireland, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain (where there already three pilot stores). The Samsung outlets, which open in April, may not be able to match the opulence of Apple’s flagship stores, which have sales of $19bn (£11.5bn) and generate more cash per square foot than any other retail chain in the world.
