In an ingenious move to bring their brand into the physical world, Google have opened their first ever branded physical store. When we think of Google, we tend to only think of their search engine. However, the company has been doing a lot more than helping people find websites lately. With a range of Android-powered phones and tablets, a selection of ‘Chromebook’ laptops and even a few TV services, Google have transformed themselves into a fully-fledged tech giant and a serious competitor to Apple. Creating a storefront with their name on it was the next logical step.
Believe it or not, Google have opened real-world shops before now; they just haven’t done it under their own name. They have a chain of ‘Androidlands’ in Australia and ‘Chromezones’ in the UK, but this is the first time that Google have explicitly linked a physical store to their highly-respected online brand.
Aside from giving Google a venue to sell their devices that’s exclusively their own, opening ‘The Google Shop’ has other advantages for the internet mega-company. Most significantly, it’s going to do wonders for their online marketing.
How can a physical store effect a company’s online marketing? The answer is simple; ‘The Google Shop’ isn’t just a store… it’s also an advert! ‘The Google Shop’ announces to the world that Google are serious about developing physical devices. This, in turn, encourages people to get online and look up the array of computers, tablets, mobiles and services that Google are offering. In other words, Google are using a grand, real-world gesture to bring potential customers to their online marketing material. Rather than spamming inboxes and designing banner ads, Google have used a physical store (and the news coverage it’s generated) to bring consumers to them. All they have to do is post positive blogs, reviews and news items relating to their products and potential buyers will find them all on their own.
Online marketing can affect the way consumers behave in the physical world; Google have had the insight to realise that the physical world can affect the way consumers behave online. Now that they’ve made this conceptual breakthrough, we can expect to see a great many more businesses adopt similar strategies. We can look forward to seeing companies come up with inventive real-world gestures designed to grab headlines and boost their online marketing campaigns. Whether or this strategy becomes a fixed part of the marketing world, we’ll certainly get to see some creative variations over the coming months and years!
