BUSINESS STRATEGY

Social media giant unveils its bricks-and-mortar retail strategy

By our News Team | 2022

Facebook’s parent company doesn’t just live on the internet anymore. It could soon be in a mall near you.

Meta, the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company that operates social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, has opened its first bricks-and-mortar retail store in the US state of California.

The new initiative, which will be surprising to many people who see Meta as a business that ‘lives’ on the internet, is seen as part of a wider strategy to evolve from being an advertising-driven social media business, to one that is focused on technology and hardware for the metaverse age.

A clear aim for the newly named Meta Store is to enable consumers to experience its technology in a hands-on way, as well as the products of its corporate partners like eyewear giant Ray-Ban.

“At the Meta Store, we want you to interact with everything. We want you to pick stuff up. We want you to feel it,” the company says in a website post.

Photo courtesy of Meta

Interactive and immersive demos

“Through interactive demos, you can make video calls to retail associates with Meta Portal, learn how Ray-Ban Stories can help you stay present with the world around you, and explore the magic of VR with a first-of-its-kind immersive Meta Quest 2 demo. We’re also making it easier to shop Meta Portal, Ray-Ban Stories and Meta Quest all in one place online, in a new Shop tab on meta.com.”

According to Martin Gilliard, Head of Meta Store, once people experience the technology, they can gain a better appreciation for it. “If we did our job right, people should leave and tell their friends: ‘You’ve got to go check out the Meta Store’,” he explains.

Gillard says it was also important for to launch the first Meta Store near Reality Labs HQ, where Meta is helping to build the metaverse.

“Having the store here in Burlingame (a town adjoining San Francisco) gives us more opportunity to experiment and keep the customer experience core to our development. What we learn here will help define our future retail strategy.”

Watch a video of the Meta Store opening here.

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