More than just retail space: MediaMarktSaturn creates new experience areas with Space-as-a-Service

Space rethought in MediaMarktSaturn stores: With Space-as-a-Service, Europe's leading consumer electronics retailer is transforming some of its existing sales areas into experience spaces for the latest technologies, innovations and other services. Customers will be able to experience and test products and technology solutions live in even more stores. At the same time, partners and brands will have more opportunities to showcase themselves in-store and shape their approach to customers.

MediaMarktSaturn makes the shopping experience even more attractive - online, in the app and in the store. With Space-as-a-Service, defined areas in the store are continuously filled with changing themes, products and services to bring them to life and offer customers even more experiences. The current focus is on the further roll-out of Experience Zones and Entrance Statements in the stores as well as boutiques for partners in the TechVillage stores, which along with the Xperion stores belong to the lighthouse formats of MediaMarktSaturn. Across the group, there are currently eleven Lighthouse locations and more than 10,000 m² of space that have already been transformed into experience spaces in over 360 stores in six countries - Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, Hungary and the Netherlands. By the end of the 2025/26 financial year, more than 750 of the Group's approximately 1,030 stores should have at least one of the two experience spaces - Experience Zones and Entrance Statements - and there should be up to 20 Lighthouse stores with boutiques in Europe.

"Space-as-a-Service is an important strategic growth area for us that has a positive impact on several areas at once: We enhance the stationary shopping experience, create additional experiences for our customers with constantly changing themes and innovations, offer other companies and brands an all-round carefree package to showcase their products and solutions as simply and easily as possible in our store network and optimise our space productivity and thus the profitability of the company," says Marcus Tengler, Vice President Real Estate & Store Concepts at MediaMarktSaturn.

Focus on Experience Zones, Entrance Statements and Boutiques

The Space-as-a-Service concept was first introduced in the TechVillage stores. The concept is based on an Italian piazza: the classic sales areas are located in the centre, with the boutiques arranged around them. Partners can rent these and present their brand world and latest innovations in a very individual setting. Due to the high degree of customisation, the boutiques are rented for several years.

Boutique: Arrangement in the store and an example of a boutique in the style of a "music hall" in TechVillage Hamburg, Mönckebergstraße.

The focus of Experience Zones is to enable customers to experience and test the latest technology trends live on site. Areas of various sizes are available, with existing furniture and other presentation options if required. Other MediaMarktSaturn services can also be booked by partners. The duration is limited to a few weeks to a few months in order to be able to continuously present new themes and products to customers.

Experience Zone: One example is the introduction of Gemini, Google's advanced AI platform, which took place in eight selected German MediaMarktSaturn stores in December 2024 and January 2025.

Entrance Statements aim to improve the omnichannel experience - the interaction between online, app and in-store shopping. Customers are welcomed at the entrance to a store with the same message or promotion that is currently focused on the company's online channels. The vast majority of customers now start their customer journey online or in the app. However, more than 70 per cent of purchases are still made in-store. Again, the duration of the booking is limited to a few weeks or a promotional period.

Entrance statement: A current example in Germany is the campaign for the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which has been promoted with a prominent Entrance Statement in 200 stores in Germany since the end of January - as well as online and in the app. Combined with other forms of retail media advertising and an interactive competition, this campaign demonstrates the optimal combination and playout of different options via an omnichannel platform.

Outlook and other Space-as-a-Service topics

Another focus is on cross-divisional collaboration to create additional opportunities to enhance the Space-as-a-Service offering together with Retail Media and other solutions. Events are also playing an increasingly important role in the Space-as-a-Service offering. These are currently being implemented primarily in the Xperion stores, MediaMarktSaturn's "gaming experience worlds", which feature large event areas and live stages. The company is also investigating the possibility of renting out storage space and offices in the future.