Samsung Takes CenterStage at Best Buy

Best Buy is expanding its alliance with Samsung yet again as technology surges further into the home appliance market.The consumer electronics retailer is installing another Samsung store-within-a-store, this time to showcase the latest in appliances. The 20-by-20-foot “Samsung Open House” shops are the largest dedicated in-store branded displays of Samsung appliances, stocking such recent white-goods introductions as a robot vacuum cleaner and four-door refrigerator with a compartment that can serve as a fridge or freezer. The shops hinge on an 85-inch touch-screen display, dubbed CenterStage, that lets shoppers interact with Samsung’s complete portfolio of home appliances through life-size photos, videos and other custom features. According to reports, Samsung first began testing a version of CenterStage in two Chicagoland stores last summer. The early six-by-eleven foot digital installation boasted nine screens that displayed products in actual size, enabling shoppers to zoom in, open microwaves and refrigerators, change colors and place items in a virtual kitchen. It was built by Cheil-owned digital agency Barbarian Group using its open-source software Cinder.“With retail floors getting more and more cluttered, CenterStage offers virtual access to every Samsung home appliance on the market with an immersive UHD display, engaging graphics, and clear explanations of product features and benefits,” said Samsung Electronics vice president Yoon Lee in a media release.Samsung Open House shops began rolling out in June and are expected to reach some 200 stores by the end of the year. They are currently in place in locations near the company’s Minneapolis headquarters and in the Chicago area.A new washer from Samsung also gets plugged in 15- and 30-second versions of a Fourth of July spot promoting one of the retailer’s many recurring appliance sales. (See below.)“We’re pulling all the levers to continue building awareness of our brand name, and its association with great product, to draw more customers into showrooms and onto websites,” Samsung’s home appliance senior vp/general manager John Herrington told NewBay Media's TWICE. “Because once they’re there, we convert very strongly from a visual and feature perspective.”Best Buy stores already host two other dedicated Samsung shops: one for TVs and the other for smartphones and mobile devices.

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