Samsung's “store-within-a-store” concept has largely been limited to big retail partners which provide some space to the company in their stores where it can set up a mini-store of sorts that deals exclusively in Samsung products. US Cellular has now become the first wireless carrier in the United States to offer this concept in its company-owned stores. The carrier unveiled its first Samsung store-within-a-store at one of its locations in Madison, Wis.
In this concept, Samsung gets a 100 square-foot space that's has dedicated branding as a Samsung experience area. It won't just be limited to this location in Madison. US Cellular is going to roll out the concept to approximately 57 locations across the country by October this year. Each Samsung store-within-a-store features an interactive virtual host designed to help customers learn more about Samsung devices. It will also be staffed with US Cellular associates which will help customers every step of the way. Products available will include the Galaxy S7 series, the Galaxy Note 7, the Gear VR, and the Gear S2 smartwatch.
US Cellular may not be as big of a mobile carrier as the country's big four but having dedicated space in its stores is great for Samsung as it looks to further increase its market share in the US smartphone market and to better compete against the iPhone 7 which is due next month. It can't be said for sure if a similar concept will ever be rolled out in Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile or Sprint stores, though something tells me Samsung wouldn't mind that at all.
