Best Buy Opens Lifestyle Store In Shanghai

The international electronics retailer Best Buy has announced the opening of a lifestyle store in the Laya Plaza in the Pudong district of Shanghai.

As Best Buy's first small store, the new Laya Plaza store only covers a business area of 77 square meters. Unlike other Best Buy stores that sell a variety of products including appliances, computers, mobile phones, office supplies, video products, and software with a philosophy or offering a large and comprehensive range, the smaller store will focus on just over 100 kinds of digital products.

Redmond Yeung, president and COO for Best Buy Asia, said the Best Buy lifestyle model is specially designed for the Chinese market. It is also a newly developed model that aims to meet the demands of different consumer groups.

Apart from the newly opened Laya Plaza store, Best Buy has also opened a 488 square meter Best Buy Premium store in Beijing's SciTech shopping center. Targeting high-end consumers, the store provides high-end electronics products, including Panasonic's 103-inch plasma TV, blu-ray players, and intelligent home systems.

Prior to this, Best Buy had opened four stores in Shanghai and all four stores are large ones, including the 5,800 square meter Xujiahui store, the 5,000 square meter New Land Plaza store, the 4,000 square meter Zhongshan Park store, and the 2,400 square meter Zhengda Plaza store. In addition, Best Buy plans to open another outlet on the B1 floor of Shanghai Laya Plaza on December 24, 2008 and the store will cover a business area of over 2,200 square meters.

According to Qian Yan, Best Buy China's public relations general manager, Best Buy will continue to open small stores in Shanghai in 2009. In its current marketing strategy, the company has focused its business on three management models, which are Best Buy Premium store, Best Buy Lifestyle store, and standard Best Buy store.