The alphabet ink’s Google is close to decision making at places in its major market in India, where it will open its first physical retail stores outside the United States, saying three sources familiar with the case.
Google is counted as a major development market to India, where it has committed to invest $ 10 billion. It currently has only five physical stores, all in the United States, which sell their products such as pixel phones, watches and earbuds.
This is the goal of reflecting a retail approach, which helped Apple INC Rek in billions of dollars by displaying its own products in the last two decades. Apple has 500 plus stores worldwide.
Google is in advanced stages of finalizing or finalizing places in or in the capital of New Delhi, and the financial capital Mumbai stated that three sources, nominated as this process, are confidential.
Google refused to comment on the case.
The first source said the store is likely to be around 15,000 square feet, and it would take at least one and six months to open, although the timeline may change.
The IT hub of Bengaluru in South India was also considered, but New Delhi and Mumbai are at the forefront, the person said.
“The idea is to compete with Apple … especially to target the luxury section,” the person said, adding more stores will be considered if beginners do good.
Google currently sells IT products in India through authorized retailers, as apple. But in 2023, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited India to open his first company in Mumbai and then India in New Delhi.
The cost of pixel phones in India ranges from about $ 370 to $ 2,000 for top-end models. The cost of apple’s iPhones is approximately $ 520- $ 2,130. Google has also started making pixel smartphones in India.
Research Group Counterpoint said that in 2024, Apple dominated the local market for premium phones, which was priced more than $ 520, with about 55% shares, compared to 2% shares of Pixel, the research group counterpoint Said. The rapidly growing Indian market currently has around 712 million smartphones users.
Google’s plan to open the store is a firm and will be executed soon, there are some standard regulatory and compliance processes that can be clear before the installation of the stores, the other source said, detailed on issues.
A third source said that Google is one of the potential places near New Delhi, which is in the satellite city of Gurugram, where there are offices of many global corporations such as Uber and Meta and the retill outlets of Uniclow.
In India, Google is struggling with many regulators and legal challenges. One of them is an in-app billing system and an antitrust cases related to the misuse of market status in the market for smart TVs.
In a top -level departure, Google lost its India’s public policy this month, marking the second departure in about two years with an important role which is important for government engagement.
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