With the holiday sales season long behind us, Oculus is streamlining its marketing strategy. The company is closing a large number of in-store demos at Best Buy locations around the country.
In May 2016, shortly after Oculus launched the Rift, the company started running live demos at select Best Buy stores around the country. The Oculus/Best Buy partnership started off with 48 stores, but that list expanded quickly. Best Buy operated roughly 500 live demo stations during the holiday shopping season.
Oculus isn’t giving up on live demos, though. The company is simply redirecting its marketing resources.
“We’re making some seasonal changes and prioritizing demos at hundreds of Best Buy locations in larger markets. You can still request Rift demos at hundreds of Best Buy stores in the US and Canada,” said Andrea Schubert, Communications Manager, Oculus. “We still believe the best way to learn about VR is through a live demo. We’re going to find opportunities to do regular events and pop-ups in retail locations and local communities throughout the year.”
Oculus said there are plenty of opportunities to try a live demo of the Rift, and you can use the live.oculus.com web page to search for the nearest location. Best Buy will continue to operate live demos in larger markets, and Microsoft is still operating demos in Microsoft stores. Oculus also plans to run short-term pop-up demos at sites that no longer have permanent demos, and the company will attend regular public events to give more people a chance to try the Rift out.