Zune Evangelism in Retail Stores

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mikeysgblog.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=2a6f6104-74fc-44a8-9105-8e1ccca15897&ID=695' target='_blank'>http://www.mikeysgblog.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=2a6f6104-74fc-44a8-9105-8e1ccca15897&ID=695</a><br /><br /></div><em>&quot;When we walked up to the Zune area he started looking at the accessories while I caught a bit of a conversation between a young man and a couple at the Zune demo area. Turns out the Zune on display was not functioning and the couple was looking to by one. The young man owned one and was explaining why he thought it was the best &quot;MP3&quot; player out. I interjected and told about my son and his buddies sharing last night which the couple thought was cool. My son then hearing me offered to let them take a look at his since the display was not working. The other young man at this point said something about not thinking and pulled out his Zune (just for clarification this is the first time ever I have been at the Zune stand and seen tow people with Zunes together. I hope it is a sign of things to come.). Then he and my son proceeded to demo the whole sharing piece which really wowed the couple. When my son and I left the couple was having a Circuit City representative assist them in getting a white one (so it would look like their friends iPod). I really wish we would see this kind of explicit advertising letting people know exactly what the Zune is capable of.&quot;</em><br /><br />I thought this was a great story - have you been doing any &quot;Zune Evangelising&quot; (I'm going to resist the urge to call it something like &quot;Zunegelising&quot; or another equally horrid term) in any retail stores, or even amongst your friends?&nbsp; Retail stores in particular are always a bit odd for me - I really enjoy helping people with technology, and teaching them about what to look for, but I also don't like being the guy that the staff complains about (&quot;Why is that idiot customer doing our job for us?&quot;). Sometimes big box retail staff are happy to have help, but it gets a little bit dicey when they're giving our false information and you correct them - like the Best Buy salesperson who told a customer the 120 GB 2.5&quot; portable hard drive he was looking at was &quot;flash-based&quot; and &quot;had no moving parts&quot;. I just had to speak up then, and the Best Buy employee didn't seem to appreciate it much.<br /><br />What has it been like talking about the Zune features - do you find it's a hard sell, or are people eager to Join the Social after you show them what it can do? Or are they put off by some of the limitations around WiFi sharing and supported video formats? I know that when I tell people about the WiFi sharing they're instantly interested, but when I explain the 3 days/3 plays limitation they say &quot;Oh, never mind then&quot; - it seems to kill the deal for them. What has your experience been?

[ale_ers]

When every I am in a Big Box Retail Store I usually check out the Zune display to see if they have any deals on accessories. I often overhear a sales clerk making some pro ipod sales pitch about accessories. I generally bite my tongue to keep from butting into the comment. However, I do find that most end up buying to Zune (if they buy anything).

Let's face it, I think if a consumer walks in with Zune on their mind, they are probably not going to get talked out of it.

[Ron Hostetter]

I bought my Zune at Best Buy last week. While ringing me up, the guy behind the MP3/cell phone/PDA counter started telling me about how much he likes the Zune. "The Zune is so cool," he says.

I was at a GameStop store the other day, and I noticed they have a Zune display. I asked the guy how sales have been and he said it's done pretty well. He said that if you believe what you read, they hadn't sold any Zunes at all, but they've actually sold pretty well - interesting considering most folks wouldn't think of going to GameStop to buy a MP3 player.

[mrozema]

I've done a little showing-off around the office. Word spread and at random someone shows up at my desk wanting to check it out.

Ive had some really positive response to how quick it reacts to button presses in comparison to the video iPod. Most think the wifi is really cool and hope that MS improves upon it.

[NPrtmn4evr]

I was at a GameStop store the other day, and I noticed they have a Zune display. I asked the guy how sales have been and he said it's done pretty well. He said that if you believe what you read, they hadn't sold any Zunes at all, but they've actually sold pretty well - interesting considering most folks wouldn't think of going to GameStop to buy a MP3 player.

I think selling the Zune at GameStop is one of the smartest things that Microsoft did for the Zune. It helps market it as an "Xbox accessory" to the gaming crowd. It's a corner of the mp3 demographic that no other mp3 player has, and I'm glad it seems to have paid off according to that GameStop employee.

[Adam Krebs]

I've done my share of marketing. I've effectively whored myself out so that the Social survives. I'm pretty well respected in regards to music, and people see this as a natural extension of being into music. I've proselytized in Sears, Best Buy, EB, and more importantly, around my friends. The interface is what immediately gets them, as seems to be the norm in accounts I've read. The wifi is a "nice" feature, but not a huge selling point (as in, if everyone who currently has an iPod traded for a Zune, it would be a phenomenal success). I would love to be an ambassador, but I still have a year to go, unfortunately. I think I'd be perfect for the position :)

[FiredCylinder]

I work in electronics at Target, and I'm always pushing the Zune. I haven't managed to convince many people that come in to buy iPods that the Zune is better, but I have sold a bunch.

[MarxMarvelous]

Rip a DVD to your Zune and then play it back for folks. That usually gets their attention. :)

[gasusan2006]

I hope Chris doesn't mind me linking his blog:confused:

http://chris.leckness.com/2006/11/30/zune-power-at-wal-mart/

tells of my purchase of my zune.....

Susan

[Jason Dunn]

I hope Chris doesn't mind me linking his blog

I can absolutely assure you that Chris doesn't mind you linking to his blog - bloggers love incoming links. ;) Great story BTW!

[Jason Dunn]

Rip a DVD to your Zune and then play it back for folks. That usually gets their attention. :)

Yeah, especially if you crop it so that it fills the entire screen - that makes it even more impressive. :D

[David Tucker]

I do that anyway...hopefully my next Zune will be 16:9!

[Aaron Roma]

I do that anyway...hopefully my next Zune will be 16:9!

When I've been snooping around the electronics departments, the biggest problem I've noticed in selling the Zune is that 90% of the users I've overheard are really looking for the smaller flash based players. It's rare that I've noticed anyone actually looking at the full size HD based players.

[David Tucker]

Well, that may be true...but the #1 & 2 sellers @ Amazon are the 30 GB & 80 GB iPod. Then come 3 flash based players. I think you might be seeing a little selection bias here. When someone goes to get an iPod...they go buy it. They probably don't spend a great deal of time browsing the store. But if someone is looking for an inexpensive MP3 player I'm willing to bet they spend more time in the store looking around. Thus...you end up seeing more of them even if there aren't more.

I think the lower end market would have been a bad place to start though for MS. They have deep enough pockets to get into the high end devices and they're going after a much different demographic. And here at least their only competition really is Apple. There's a lot of good competition that's hard to differentiate from in the Flash player segment.

[enjoythemusic]

Interesting, as i went into Target here in NH and the salesperson agreed the Zune had better sound quality (plus larger screen, etc). My hopes are that one day MS will fix the firmware to allow for uncompressed audio as widely used by audiophiles on their iPod. Have been a strong supporter of MS from OS 3.1 to early WinCE (on a monochrome Sharp), AutoPC (extremely advanced for its time), and too many other bits to remember.

To me, MS released the Zune a few years too late BUT there is time! The good news is that Zune's inherent sound quality appears to be better than the iPod (in general). The bad news is the lack of uncompressed music support and no way to use the Zune wireless (WiFi/Bluetooth, not the lackluster remote) as others do with their iPod/networked audio system. Heck, you can not get a digital out, let alone a basic minimally-altered line output from the Zune! :(

My apologies for the OT rant.

BTW love the Zune, bought a second one for my wife for Valentines day (thanks for link to screens). Approx. 600 discs burned in the past week, a thousand or so more to go(!) as want to wife to have a very wide variety of music loaded in her Zune.