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New Retail Chief Ahrendts to Oversee Apple Store Restructuring, New Store Construction

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Apr 12, 2001
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Angela Ahrendts has plans to initiate a major restructuring of Apple's Retail stores to promote better customer service and to streamline operations, reports 9to5Mac. At the current point in time, stores are organized into geographical regions, but Ahrendts wants to restructure, instead grouping stores based on sales volume and customer demographics.
This means that stores will now be grouped by how much of certain products they sell. This will heighten customer satisfaction and streamline Apple retail operations as now similar stores will have similar leadership and similar promotions. This move is not designed to institute John Browett-likely sales targets, but it is planned to create even more tailored experiences to individual stores.
Click to expand...
In a letter sent to retail employees earlier this month, Ahrendts said she plans to "focus on and evolve the customer journey online and in our stores." She wants customers to "feel surprised and delighted" by a personalized Apple experience.

Ahrendts has already restructured some of the retail executives working under her to streamline her department, and along with expressing interest in a redesign of the "end-to-end Apple Store sales experience," she may also have plans to focus on an in-store mobile payments solution and furthering Apple's business in China.

Ahrendts is expected to oversee the opening of 20 new Apple Stores in China through 2016, along with a new high-profile store in Italy and new locations across the United States.

Article Link: New Retail Chief Ahrendts to Oversee Apple Store Restructuring, New Store Construction
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/06/16/apple-angela-ahrendts-restructuring/
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,147
31,204
Wow lots of words in that 9to5Mac article to basically tell us that Ahrendts is going to reorganize retail leadership based on sales volume instead of region. Does Gurman think if he adds more filler to the story it will seem more important?
 
E

Exponent

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2002
263
635
Silicon Valley
MacRumors said:
At the current point in time, stores are organized into geographical regions, but Ahrendts wants to restructure, instead grouping stores based on sales volume and customer demographics.
Click to expand...


NOT. GOOD.

I've been through this in Michigan, with Macys. Live in a predominantly wealthy area? You get presented with one kind of Macys. Live in an area with a range of incomes? You get presented with an entirely different kind of Macys, unkempt and not stocking the products one would expect out of "Macys".

The overall effect is to greatly dilute the value of the brand, since the company presents a different level of customer experience depending on location, all under that same brand name. And as a customer, it REALLY grates you to be presented a shabbier store in your locale, all by intent.

Like I said: NOT. GOOD.

Hey Ahrendts - You want to create a different customer experience? Simple - start up "sidecar" brand names.... Want to target fashionistas? Call the brand "Candy Apple", and put THOSE stores where they make sense. A store that handles high-end AppleTV gear? "Golden Apple".

There - I'll give you that one, and if you implement it, just send me a fully loaded Mac Pro...
 
jclo

jclo

Managing Editor
Staff member
Dec 7, 2012
1,973
4,308
Exponent said:
NOT. GOOD.

I've been through this in Michigan, with Macys. Live in a predominantly wealthy area? You get presented with one kind of Macys. Live in an area with a range of incomes? You get presented with an entirely different kind of Macys, unkempt and not stocking the products one would expect out of "Macys".

The overall effect is to greatly dilute the value of the brand, since the company presents a different level of customer experience depending on location, all under that same brand name. And as a customer, it REALLY grates you to be presented a shabbier store in your locale, all by intent.

Like I said: NOT. GOOD.

Hey Ahrendts - You want to create a different customer experience? Simple - start up "sidecar" brand names.... Want to target fashionistas? Call the brand "Candy Apple", and put THOSE stores where they make sense. A store that handles high-end AppleTV gear? "Golden Apple".

There - I'll give you that one, and if you implement it, just send me a fully loaded Mac Pro...
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, it's an excellent example of how that restructuring might turn out. I've definitely noticed the difference in Macys stores in different regions -- hopefully Apple doesn't go that extreme.
 
3

3282868

macrumors 603
Jan 8, 2009
5,281
0
I have the sense this means she may move product from back of house towards the front, i.e. Mac and iOS accessories, as this is what brings more people into the store and usually causes more crowding around the Genius bar.

Do what NYC 14th St has done, replace tables with multi-purpose systems. Hardware displayed with accompanying smaller products in shelving at the end, keeping people out of the way of customers testing systems while making better use of floor space. The products and accessories would still be displayed with hardware without people having to walk through the store, creating a more fluid space, organizing accessories with their hardware counterparts.

Makes more sense.
 
bwillwall

bwillwall

Suspended
Dec 24, 2009
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I really hope this goes well. I have faith in her! Just watching her speak on YouTube proves that she is absolutely brilliant!
 
J

jglonek

macrumors member
Aug 20, 2012
32
10
Exponent said:
NOT. GOOD.

I've been through this in Michigan, with Macys. Live in a predominantly wealthy area? You get presented with one kind of Macys. Live in an area with a range of incomes? You get presented with an entirely different kind of Macys, unkempt and not stocking the products one would expect out of "Macys".

The overall effect is to greatly dilute the value of the brand, since the company presents a different level of customer experience depending on location, all under that same brand name. And as a customer, it REALLY grates you to be presented a shabbier store in your locale, all by intent.

Like I said: NOT. GOOD.

Hey Ahrendts - You want to create a different customer experience? Simple - start up "sidecar" brand names.... Want to target fashionistas? Call the brand "Candy Apple", and put THOSE stores where they make sense. A store that handles high-end AppleTV gear? "Golden Apple".

There - I'll give you that one, and if you implement it, just send me a fully loaded Mac Pro...
Click to expand...

Eh. Macys has a lot more products than an Apple store. I think you might be looking at this wrong.

I'm sure all stores will have the same baseline for stock, and they will all sell all Apple items like they do right now.

But, if you have a store that say sells a lot of Macbook Pros, then they may start keeping more different variations (HDD, Memory, etc) in stock than they do now, possibly keeping an eye on the BTO's that are delivered to the store.
 
B

Bobtodd

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2011
51
0
If they really want to help customer experience. First stop hiring kids and start to hire adults. Second take a look at the operations inside the stores, BOH teams decrease in size as sales and stock increase and stop using the BOH team to answer phones this should help customer satisfaction straight the way by having the first point of contact over the phone not being a inventory person who has better things to do.
 
sunking101

sunking101

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2013
7,416
2,656
Simply EVERYTHING is done to maximise profit. Will this revamping be an improvement for customers? Highly unlikely.
 
T

TC03

macrumors 65816
Aug 17, 2008
1,272
356
jglonek said:
But, if you have a store that say sells a lot of Macbook Pros, then they may start keeping more different variations (HDD, Memory, etc) in stock than they do now, possibly keeping an eye on the BTO's that are delivered to the store.
Click to expand...
It would be extremely stupid if they didn't do this already.

To be honest, I have no idea what the writer is trying to say. How can you group stores based on sales volume? What does that even mean?
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,147
31,204
sunking101 said:
Simply EVERYTHING is done to maximise profit. Will this revamping be an improvement for customers? Highly unlikely.
Click to expand...

Since when are those two things mutually exclusive? If you improve the customer experience you're more likely to get repeat buyers and buyers who will recommend your products to others.
 
W

wizard

macrumors 68040
May 29, 2003
3,854
571
bwillwall said:
I really hope this goes well. I have faith in her! Just watching her speak on YouTube proves that she is absolutely brilliant!
Click to expand...


Are you a former lover? I just wonder how you can have faith in somebody you don't know.
 
Hammie

Hammie

macrumors 68000
Mar 17, 2009
1,549
72
Wash, DC Metro
jglonek said:
Eh. Macys has a lot more products than an Apple store. I think you might be looking at this wrong.

I'm sure all stores will have the same baseline for stock, and they will all sell all Apple items like they do right now.

But, if you have a store that say sells a lot of Macbook Pros, then they may start keeping more different variations (HDD, Memory, etc) in stock than they do now, possibly keeping an eye on the BTO's that are delivered to the store.
Click to expand...

Not just BTOs delivered to a store, but what zip codes they are delivered to. A custom BTO may not bring that customer in the door if they know ahead of time that it would not be carried as an "In stock" item.

If they want to get people in the door, they need to have the right variety of inventory -- both hardware and accessories.
 
A

aristobrat

macrumors G5
Oct 14, 2005
12,292
1,403
TC03 said:
To be honest, I have no idea what the writer is trying to say. How can you group stores based on sales volume? What does that even mean?
Click to expand...
When I worked there a few years ago, stores were grouped based mostly on their location. This put the incredibly small mall store that I worked at in the same "group" as some of the flagship stores in NYC.

To me, that means the folks (HR, logistics, operations, marketing) responsible for that market have to deal with smaller, more rural stores, as well as the bonkers busy NYC stores. Things that work well for one group don't necessarily work well for the other.

Maybe it'd be easier for folks managing groups to do a better job if all of the stores in their "group" were similar. Don't bother the group that's managing the super-busy flagship stores with also being responsible for managing a few stores that don't fit that model, when "geographic location" is the only thing the stores have in common?
 
B

BSben

macrumors 65816
May 16, 2012
1,136
621
UK
I don't know why, but I am not sure she was a good choice. Burberry is a brand that is loved by the upper crust and at the same time it is a favourite with chavs/scallys. The Burberry website is a bit rubbish. All looks a bit doom and gloom, but I hope that Apple will yet again amaze me.
 
W

wizard

macrumors 68040
May 29, 2003
3,854
571
TC03 said:
It would be extremely stupid if they didn't do this already.

To be honest, I have no idea what the writer is trying to say. How can you group stores based on sales volume? What does that even mean?
Click to expand...

Simple; you end up with different classes of stores. It is rather silly to set store standards based on what may be possible for a store in Boston as opposed to say a store in Fargo. A store in Boston should have more area dedicated to training for example. A store in Boston might also expect to have far more sales per square foot than one located elsewhere. This is a big problem as I see it with large chain management, it makes no sense at all to expect comparable sales performance from stores in significantly different locations.

What I would hope that this leads to is stores that are far bigger where they need to be and maybe getting away from the cookie cutter look. Especially getting away from the cheesy glass engineered into some of their stores

The other thing that burns my rear about Apple stores is the lack of a clear and easy way to pick up and pay for accessories. Honestly I've had better experiences from vending machines in airports. If you need a cable the last thing you want to do is to jump through hoops to find the Apple Store guy that can actually take your money. I'd go so far as to suggest a separate room off of the main product show room. THat room would have a cash register for you know CASH! It is really pathetic to realize that Apple contributes to the credit mentality in this country.
 
J

Jumpthrough

macrumors newbie
Jun 20, 2011
25
0
Exponent said:
NOT. GOOD.

I've been through this in Michigan, with Macys. Live in a predominantly wealthy area? You get presented with one kind of Macys. Live in an area with a range of incomes? You get presented with an entirely different kind of Macys, unkempt and not stocking the products one would expect out of "Macys".

The overall effect is to greatly dilute the value of the brand, since the company presents a different level of customer experience depending on location, all under that same brand name. And as a customer, it REALLY grates you to be presented a shabbier store in your locale, all by intent.

Like I said: NOT. GOOD.

Hey Ahrendts - You want to create a different customer experience? Simple - start up "sidecar" brand names.... Want to target fashionistas? Call the brand "Candy Apple", and put THOSE stores where they make sense. A store that handles high-end AppleTV gear? "Golden Apple".

There - I'll give you that one, and if you implement it, just send me a fully loaded Mac Pro...
Click to expand...

As dynamic and edgy as it might sound to put the former CEO of a fashion house in charge of retail stores for a tech company does this idea not sound crazy to "some" people. Your post made me cringe and after watching her on Youtube and seeing what she implemented in terms of marketing strategies for Burberry it sounds like this might just be her type of thing-certain products for certain stores in certain "upscale" neighborhoods "only". Time will tell, this could go great or it could go horrible wrong, I don't think the person buying a Macbook is usually the type of person buying the $700 Burberry wallet-completely different customers. Just sayin!:rolleyes:
 
W

wizard

macrumors 68040
May 29, 2003
3,854
571
BSben said:
I don't know why, but I am not sure she was a good choice.
Click to expand...
You won't know until she has a chance to prove herself. That is fundamentally no different than any other individual making a career change.
Burberry is a brand that is loved by the upper crust and at the same time it is a favourite with chavs/scallys.
Click to expand...
I take it that you fit into the chavs category! After all no self respecting Brit would tear down an industry leader for no good reason.
The Burberry website is a bit rubbish. All looks a bit doom and gloom, but I hope that Apple will yet again amaze me.
Click to expand...
Looks decent to me! Maybe you are the one with the problem, you certainly have a need to put things and people into pigeon holes!
 
R

rctlr

macrumors 6502a
May 9, 2012
738
175
I can get to 5 Apple Stores within an hour of where I live, and I've enjoyed going to them.
They are a Mecca for even non-apple users, and if the plan is to change them to suit the geographic location, then that will sour the experience in my opinion - getting different experiences in different stores.
 
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