Samsung not acquiring stock of Best Buy retail stores
Samsung executive stated he met with Best Buy and "discussed pending business issue" that may lead to Samsung investing more in the retail giant, as reported yesterday by BGR.
UPDATE: According to Samsung this statement had nothing at all to do with Samsung stock acquisition of Best Buy and was probably a statement related to further issues related to their new Samsung Experience Shops in Best Buy.
The official Samsung statement I received stated the following:
In the past few days, there have been reports that 'Samsung is considering to acquire stakes in Best Buy'. Please take note that these rumors are not true. There have been no talks whatsoever regarding stock acquisition of either company.
I enjoy visiting my local Best Buy store about once a month to get my hands on some of the latest mobile technology that I don't get a chance to try and evaluate.
Back in April of this year Samsung announced a relationship with Best Buy that resulted in Samsung Experience Shops being installed in Best Buy stores. This is actually one of my favorite areas of the store to visit every time I go.
You can find smartphones, tablets, laptops, cameras, and plenty of accessories in these areas of Best Buy. I plan to stop there this weekend to see if they have one of those cool new flip covers for my new T-Mobile Galaxy Note 3.
We have no details on what this possible expanded relationship means, but remember that Samsung also makes appliances, TVs, and more so maybe they are going to roll out similar types of focused areas of Best Buy for these types of products.
Samsung may also see the value in a retail store and want to increase their presence in mobile at Best Buy. Apple is very successful with their Apple stores and we may eventually see a Samsung store within Best Buy where you can visit to buy products, but also be trained on them, get repair service, and more.
I am sad that so many electronics retail stores are gone and have fond memories of CompUSA, Circuit City, and others. Samsung is doing very well and it makes sense to me that they want to make sure that a strong retail presence exists to show off their products.