If you’re technologically challenged, setting up a new electronic device can prove to be a headache. Best Buy has long offered a solution for such customers called Geek Squad. It sends over trained staff to get everything up and running for the customer. It’s one major advantage that the retailer continues to boast over Amazon but it appears that Amazon is now setting up its own army of trained personnel that will visit the customer to set up their “smart home.”
Re/code reports that over the past few months, Amazon has quietly been hiring “an army of in-house gadget experts” to provide customers wiht free Alexa consultations as well as production installations for a fee.
Amazon has already rolled out this new offering in seven markets across the United States without making too big of a fuss about it. The service is meant to help customers set up their “smart home,” a term used to describe devices like thermostats and smart speakers that can be controlled using apps and voice commands.
Amazon already offers a marketplace where service providers offer services like plumbing, masonry, TV mounting, etc but given the increasing popularity of smart home devices, it seems that Amazon feels it’s important to have a team in-house that can help customers set up these complex devices.
Market experts are of the view that such devices have return rates higher than normal just because most customers are unable to figure out how to set up the products properly. So that just might be another good reason for Amazon to launch a service of this sort.
It remains to be seen when the company is going to launch it officially, it hasn’t commented on the matter so far.
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