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Google is getting physical.
The tech giant opened its first ever brick and mortar store in London. The shop will feature Android phones, tablets, and Chromecasts. Google (GOOGL) also plans to hold classes on online security and coding.
Many brick and mortar retailers are struggling, notes Yahoo Finance Columnist Rick Newman.
“Maybe they'll buy all those RadioShack outlets that are going to be empty,” he quips. “The old retailers are going out of business or downsizing their real estate footprint… whereas the digital upstarts are getting into a physical retail. Apple (AAPL) obviously did that with great success, surprised everybody. Amazon (AMZN) has started to open up… storefronts or distribution points. Now Google is doing it.”
Google plans to open two more stores later this year. Newman thinks Google’s physical presence makes sense.
“E-commerce is still only about 7% of all retail sales," he says. "There is some need to be out there were where people actually live and shop. People are going to continue to shop, and you need to get your products in front of them.”
Google is also gearing up to hire a new CFO. The current CFO, Patrick Pichette, announced plans to retire from the company on Tuesday. Pichette is the fourth Google executive to step down in recent months.
Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli notes that Pichette says he is retiring to spend more time with his family.
“Wall Street is kind of comforted by the fact that maybe he's doing this for personal reasons and not so much because something is wrong with the books at Google.”
Newman is not surprised by Pichette’s move.
“When you work at such a successful company as Google, you can afford to retire early. That seems to be the case here,” he says. “Google's obviously got a deep bench, they can attract some of the best talent in the world if they have to and the company is going to be just fine.”
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