Comment: Why Carphone Warehouse's Samsung deal makes sense

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Samsung has revealed plans to open 60 stores in Europe in partnership with Carphone Warehouse – a strategy that will give Samsung a European presence that took Apple nearly a decade to build, but in just three months.

This is an interesting deal for a number of reasons. For a start, it really highlights the current evolution of bricks and mortar retail, as brands seek to gain greater control over their distribution.

The fact that brand-owners such as Samsung are choosing to become retailers in their own right will have a major impact on the high street, especially if standalone stores continue to take the place of traditional distribution.

In Samsung’s case, these first 60 stores could be just the beginning. There is potential for Samsung to expand the relationship with Carphone Warehouse.

The outlets, fitted out with ‘minimalist white and blue interiors’, will sell Samsung’s full computing range from laptops to tablets, phones and smart watches, along with in-store services that will help customers set up and learn more about the devices they buy.

Between 10 and 15 of the shops are expected to be in the UK with the rest in Ireland, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain.

Changes like these are just the latest blow to commodity-based retail. Apart from some of the large grocery multiples, the traditional wholesale/retail business model is suffering from the fact that brand owners can put a lot of pressure on retailers in areas ranging from margins to merchandising.

Plus, the barriers to entry for retailers that are selling other brands’ products is now extremely low, resulting in fierce competition and a race to the lowest price, both online and in-store.

For all these reasons, this move may prove to be very smart for Samsung. Not only does Carphone Warehouse have a strong retail presence in Europe with more than 2,000 stores, but the deal also means that Samsung will maintain control of its brand without having to worry about all the pains of setting up a retail network.

Carphone Warehouse also has the expertise and the existing infrastructure to open fully operational working stores in a relatively short time frame.

Of course, it’s also a clever move by Carphone Warehouse, which is effectively defending itself from a full-on attack from Samsung by partnering with the company instead.

Benefits like these are likely to fuel the rise of brand-owners creating their own retail experience even further.

Again, just look at the success that Apple has enjoyed with this model. Around 114 million people visited Apple’s stores during the busy fourth quarter in 2013, which equates to almost 21,000 visitors a store per week.

Is it any wonder why Samsung wants to follow in the same footsteps?