Meta Reportedly Opening Retail Stores To Increase Device Sales
Meta may be looking to open physical stores to sell its smart glasses and VR headsets.
Facebook parent Meta is reportedly opening physical stores. According to information obtained by Business Insider, the Mark Zuckerberg company is expanding its retail operations and quietly hiring retail staff.
There is no confirmation of how many Meta brick-and-mortar locations will potentially open. However, the company already has one physical store in Burlingame, California, which was launched in 2022. Inside, shoppers can try out Meta’s current hardware devices, like the Meta Quest virtual reality headset and Ray-Ban smart glasses.
The company also created a pop-up store last year that sold smart glasses in Los Angeles. While it is closed for now, Meta’s website teases that it will be back.
Even without permanent physical stores, Meta managed to sell over 1 million Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2024. For Zuckerberg, that is not enough. In a staff meeting, the Facebook founder wanted to know if there was a way to boost sales to 5 million units. Physical Meta stores could be the company’s answer.
Stores that consumers can visit and browse could boost sales and increase customer engagement if done right. In addition to smart glasses and VR sets, the company does plan to introduce several more devices, and physical stores could help bring these new products to consumers, allowing them to try them before buying.
Meta Stores May or May Not Be Successful
A Meta store footprint would go head-to-head with Apple’s physical stores, where consumers can actively connect with the brand. Alongside other popular devices, like the iPhone, Apple sells its own VR headset, Vision Pro.
Other tech giants have attempted physical stores as well. Some have been mildly successful, while others have failed.
Amazon opened its first store almost a decade ago, leading to newly created brands Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go. However, Amazon has only had mediocre success with brick-and-mortar retail and has been more recently focused on investing in new technologies like AI.
Software behemoth Microsoft once had 83 retail stores, which were modeled after Apple’s retail locations. Yet, the company closed all of them in 2020 after reportedly losing millions of dollars on the concept. Although Microsoft did not give up the idea entirely, as it still has various, smaller Experience Centers and over 40 Innovation Hubs in several major cities.
