Motorola is apparently testing the waters for having a physical retail presence in India, as the manufacturer has launched six small pop-up stores in malls throughout the country, called Moto Hubs. The new stores are all-in-one experience centers and shops, where users can try the latest and greatest products that Motorola has to offer, then decide to take the product home if they like it. For now, there is only half a dozen Moto Hubs open in the South Asian country; two are in Noida, at Great India Place Mall and Logix Mall, with another three being in Mumbai, at Xperia Mall, Korum Mall, and Viviana Mall. Indirapuram only has one local Moto Hub, and it’s at Shipra Mall. Motorola is starting small with six stores to see how things go, but the firm’s goal is to have 50 Moto Hubs open in key strategic locations across India by the end of its current fiscal year.
Motorola India announced the new stores on Twitter earlier today, with posts featuring photos and videos of the locations coming just before launch, along with various antics committed by a dancing bird mascot named the “Moto Chick.” As seen in the attached photo from the Tweet announcing the locations of the first six Moto Hubs, each location features a number of Moto devices sitting out for customers to try, including members of the Moto E, Moto C, and Moto G families, as well as the Moto Z2 Play and various Moto Mods for it. Users can buy the devices on the spot, which is still a relatively unique opportunity as most Moto devices are not physically sold anywhere else in the country and can otherwise only be bought online.
Sudhin Mathur, Motorola Mobility India’s managing director, said that the new Moto Hub locations are “open, fun and very uniquely Motorola,” and present consumers with a chance to try Motorola’s devices the way that the company intended them to. Should the expansion of Moto Hubs go as planned, further physical retail locations may open throughout India, though there has been no official word on such plans yet, nor has there been any word on whether the Moto Hubs will come to other countries.