Technology becomes part of the business model itself.
In Kuala Lumpur, Samsung Malaysia and Modernize Vida have opened not a showroom in the conventional sense, but a kind of proof-of-concept for the connected future of business — a space where technology ceases to be abstract and becomes something you can walk through. Situated at KL Eco City, the Partner Experience Store presents seven industry environments, each a quiet argument that artificial intelligence and integrated devices are no longer aspirational but operational. It is a gesture toward a deeper truth in modern commerce: that trust in transformation must be earned through demonstration, not declaration.
- Businesses increasingly distrust technology promises made on paper, demanding instead that vendors show — not tell — how their systems perform under real conditions.
- Samsung and Modernize Vida responded by building seven fully realized industry environments under one roof, from a simulated bank to a functioning government office, each running live on the SmartThings platform.
- The store disrupts the traditional B2B sales cycle by collapsing the gap between pitch and proof, letting hotel managers, school administrators, and property developers experience deployment before committing to it.
- Even back-office functions like commercial laundry are reframed as customer-facing innovations — stackable, high-capacity machines woven into café or fitness center business models rather than hidden in utility rooms.
- The facility is now open to partners and distributors, positioning Samsung's Devices, Solutions and Services framework as the connective tissue for scalable enterprise transformation across Malaysia.
Samsung Malaysia has opened a Partner Experience Store at KL Eco City — not a retail space, but a working laboratory built with Modernize Vida to show business partners exactly how artificial intelligence and connected devices perform in practice. Seven distinct zones each replicate a real industry environment: retail, banking, hospitality, residential, education, office, and government. The goal is to replace spec sheets with lived experience.
At the heart of the store is Samsung's SmartThings platform, the unified system that ties connected devices into a single operational ecosystem. A hotel manager can walk through the hospitality zone and observe automated climate control and laundry management in action. A school administrator can see the same underlying technology adapted for an education setting. The message is consistent across every zone: these are not isolated gadgets but parts of something larger.
Charles Kim, president of Samsung Malaysia Electronics, described the store as a direct response to rising expectations from business clients — companies that no longer want mere connectivity, but solutions that scale, adapt, and visibly improve the customer experience. The collaboration with Modernize Vida was built to serve that demand.
One of the store's more striking demonstrations is Samsung's commercial laundry system — machines handling up to 18 kilograms per wash cycle, stackable for space efficiency, and designed to integrate into customer-facing business models rather than remain invisible back-office infrastructure. A café offering laundry service, a gym where members wash clothes mid-workout: the technology becomes part of the value proposition itself.
Underpinning everything is Samsung's Devices, Solutions and Services framework — the conviction that hardware, software, and support must function as a seamless whole. For enterprises weighing large-scale deployments, the Partner Experience Store offers something rare: the chance to see how all the pieces fit together before any contracts are signed.
Samsung Malaysia has opened a new showroom at KL Eco City designed to let business partners and distributors walk through working examples of how artificial intelligence and connected devices can reshape everyday operations. The Partner Experience Store, developed with Modernize Vida, is not a retail space but a working laboratory—seven separate zones, each built to mirror a real industry setting: a retail shop, a bank, a hotel, an apartment, a school, an office, and a government building.
The point is to let partners see, touch, and understand how Samsung's SmartThings platform—the company's unified control system for connected devices—actually functions when you need to run a business. Rather than reading a spec sheet, a hotel manager can walk through a hospitality zone and see how the system monitors and automates everything from guest room climate control to laundry operations. A school administrator can observe how the same technology works in an education setting. The experience is meant to show that these are not isolated gadgets but parts of a larger ecosystem.
Charles Kim, president of Samsung Malaysia Electronics, framed the store as a response to a shift in what businesses now expect from technology vendors. Companies no longer want just connected devices, he said. They want solutions that are intuitive, can grow with their operations, and actually improve how customers experience their services. The collaboration with Modernize Vida was built on that premise: help partners see the full picture before they commit to deployment.
One of the store's centerpieces is Samsung's commercial laundry system, designed for high-volume environments. The washers handle up to 18 kilograms per load, the dryers up to 14 kilograms. The machines are stackable, which matters when space is tight. But the real innovation, Samsung argues, is that laundry is no longer just a back-office function. The system is designed to integrate into customer-facing experiences—imagine a café with laundry service, or a fitness center where members can wash clothes while they work out. The technology becomes part of the business model itself.
Behind all of this sits Samsung's broader Devices, Solutions and Services framework. The idea is straightforward: hardware alone is not enough. You need the software to run it, the services to support it, and the integration to make it all work together seamlessly. For businesses considering large-scale deployments—whether in a new property development, a corporate campus, or a government facility—the Partner Experience Store offers a chance to see how those pieces fit before signing contracts.
The store's opening reflects a wider shift in how technology companies approach B2B sales. Rather than selling products, they are selling transformation. The Partner Experience Store is Samsung's argument that this transformation is not theoretical. It is walkable, observable, and ready to be adapted to whatever industry you operate in.
Notable Quotes
Businesses are increasingly looking for solutions that are not only connected, but also intuitive, scalable, and experience driven.— Charles Kim, President of Samsung Malaysia Electronics
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Samsung need a physical space like this? Couldn't they just show partners videos or send them product samples?
Videos don't let you understand how a system actually works under pressure. A hotel manager needs to see how the platform handles fifty rooms checking in at once, how the laundry integrates with housekeeping schedules. That's not a feature you can convey on a screen.
So this is really about confidence—letting partners see it works before they invest?
Exactly. And it's also about imagination. Most business owners haven't thought about laundry as a customer experience. Walking through a zone that shows a café-laundry hybrid helps them see possibilities they didn't know existed.
The seven zones—are they all equally important, or is one the real draw?
The commercial laundry system seems to be the flagship. It's concrete, it's different from what competitors offer, and it shows how Samsung is thinking beyond just selling machines. They're selling a business model.
Who actually benefits most from this store? The big distributors or smaller partners?
Both, but in different ways. Large distributors can use it to train their sales teams. Smaller partners get to understand the full ecosystem without having to build one themselves. It levels the playing field a bit.
What happens after a partner walks through? Do they just leave and decide?
The store is designed to support decision-making, but the real work happens after. Partners take what they've learned and figure out how to apply it to their specific market—a new mall, a hospital, a government office building.