A former student of mine has taken a sales job at the new Tesla Store in Santa Monica. The LA Times reports about the new store located on theThird Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Many "green products" are new and risk averse consumers do not have much experience with them. By opening a store in a high profile, expensive retail strip, Tesla (who makes electric vehicles) is taking a page from Apple's book by creating hubs where like minded people can gather and learn and touch and see the product. This will generate "green buzz" and should create some momentum. A smart social scientist should stand at the entry of the Tesla Store and try to get the name and address of the people who come through the door. Do these "influentials" talk to their friends about Tesla or write something on Facebook? How does the "green contagion" spread?
Here is a quote from the LA Times article:
"We are deliberately trying to engage with people when they are not thinking about buying a car," said George Blankenship, Tesla's sales chief, who previously worked in the store divisions of Apple and Gap. That's the best way to educate people about how electric cars work, how much they cost to operate and what Tesla has to offer when they eventually go car shopping, he said.
Tesla is a small volume auto company that just started selling its flagship Model S, a sporty, full-size hatchback. The car sells for about $50,000 to more than $100,000 depending on trim level and options. Tesla builds the Model S at a factory in Fremont, Calif., where it plans to also make the Model X, an electric SUV built on the same platform and sharing much of the technology, starting late next year."
The next time I blog, I will be in Singapore.
