Bambu Lab is one of the biggest producers of desktop 3D printers on the planet, but did you know they have a number of retail locations?
The company made a big splash with their first retail store, located in their home town of Shenzhen. There, visitors could not only purchase equipment and materials, but more importantly they could see machines operate, touch models printed on them, and ask questions about the systems.
In spite of years of publicity of 3D printing, many people still really don’t understand what it’s all about. That’s why having a retail store is quite important: to educate the customers.
This is the same approach Apple did many years ago. Today we see the local Apple Store as a normal thing, but back when they first launched it was for a very different reason: people did not understand Apple devices. Apple launched the stores to educate the public on how their devices actually work, and give them a taste of the experience.
Their strategy worked very well, as we all know, and perhaps Bambu Lab is following the same strategy.
In addition to the company’s headquarters retail store, they have several others in China. Two are in Shenzhen, plus Chengdu, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. You can even find these using Bambu Lab’s “Store Finder”.
Domestic stores are one thing, but Bambu Lab also has international stores. There’s one in Tokyo, another in Bangkok, and just now another one opened in the Philippines. All of these stores are set up with a local partner.
When the company first launched the store concept, they did say to expect more to come. That seems to be happening, at least in a small way.
But here’s the question: if you were going to launch a worldwide network of retail stores, how should they be set up? You’d certainly want to confirm the best approach before repeating it dozens or even hundreds of times in different cities.
That seems to be what’s happening now. The few Bambu Lab stores that do operate are all a bit different:
- large mall flagship stores in China and Bangkok;
- distributor-operated stores in the Philippines;
- authorized partner stores in Japan;
- different mixes of demonstration, sales, workshops, filament, and after-sales support.
That looks very much like experimentation before future scaling. The partner-led structure is particularly interesting: Bambu Lab can expand internationally without requiring as much funding and won’t have to operate every store itself.
My expectation is that they will operate these stores, and perhaps a few more variations for a short while. Once they identify the best formula, they’ll set up a few flagship retail operations using that formula in key cities worldwide.
And if that works, then we might see them setting up a retail operation in your city.
Maybe right beside the Apple Store.
