Microsoft Corp. on June 26, 2020 announced a new approach to its retail business. The company announced its decision to permanently close all of its 83 physical retail stores. The retail team of the company will serve remotely and from Microsoft corporate facilities.
However, the four locations including New York City (Fifth Ave), London (Oxford Circus), Sydney (Westfield Sydney), and the Redmond campus location will remain open as experience centers but will no longer sell products.
“The company’s sales grew online as its product line has evolved largely to digital offerings” as per the Microsoft Corporate Vice President David Porter.
Since the closing of Microsoft Store locations in March amid COVID-19, the retail team of the company has helped small businesses, virtually trained a large number of enterprise and education customers on remote work and learning software, and helped with support calls. The team hosted over 14,000 online workshops and summer camps and over 3,000 virtual graduations.
Microsoft has witnessed significant growth through its digital storefronts, which include Microsoft.com, and stores on Xbox and Windows. The company will continue investing in digital innovation and will reach over 1.2 billion people in 190 markets each month.
“It is a new day for how Microsoft Store team members will serve all customers,” said Porter. “We are energized about the opportunity to innovate in how we engage with all customers, maximize our talent for greatest impact, and most importantly help our valued customers achieve more.”
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Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
