Thursday, April 7, 2011

Microsoft's (MSFT) Retail Expansion a Good Idea?

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is reportedly prepared to expand its retail sales presence beyond its current eight stores, according to a source close to the situation.

Evidently Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and COO Kevin Turner have a goal of growing the number of its retail shops beyond the 300 Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) now has.

The problem for Microsoft retail will be the availability of its products everywhere else, depending on the focus of the store.

Would they cater more to gamers with Xbox and cool products like Kinect, or would they be focused more on the business products they offer. It could even be a combination of both.

Either way, they would have to adopt some type of strategy of giving customers a reason to come into the stores. They could do it, but it's not clear what avenue that would take.

Microsoft was trading at $26.12, down $0.03, or 0.11 percent, as of 2:25 PM EDT.

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