Tech giant Microsoft has decided to close the retail stores worldwide among the pandemic. Users can no longer visit the official Microsoft store to buy the new products or have a quick look at them. This initiative was taken from the results of the pandemic which according to Microsoft has given a rise in online sales.
Microsoft Going Fully Online
According to the blog on the official site, the company is planning to expand and invest more in its digital storefront to provide the users with an experience staying at home. They will put all their efforts on Microsoft.com, Xbox, and Windows. The company is targeting to reach a total of 1.2 Billion in total among 190 countries worldwide.
The company says the retail employees are trained for the proper support of people from their convenience. The company says the physical location is no longer a barrier in connecting and providing people the services they want. This shutdown going to cost the company a pre-tax charge of approximately $450M.
The retail team members can serve the customer from the Microsoft corporate locations. Microsoft Teams was created for the purpose of engagement of the company to the customers in order to have a proper interaction for the resolution of any problem.
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What Else?
According to The Verge, this was planned by the company before the pandemic and they had plans for next year to close their retail stores for the users. COVID has just escalated the process with the shutdown of stores in March and following the company going fully online. Sources of The Verge also confirm that there won’t be any layoffs from the retail stores which are closing and they will continue to serve the customers.
Corporate Vice President David Porter says, “Our sales have grown online as our product portfolio has evolved to largely digital offerings, and our talented team has proven success serving customers beyond any physical location, We are grateful to our Microsoft Store customers and we look forward to continuing to serve them online and with our retail sales team at Microsoft corporate locations”.
Since the start of COVID in march, the company has helped enterprise and business customers in going online and learning to use the online software for their benefits. The supported communities have hosted as many as 14,000 online workshops for and summer camps as well as more than 3,000 virtual graduations.
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