Apple Names John Browett as New Senior Vice President of Retail

[Kilamite]

Currys Digital scored the lowest customer satisfaction rating by Which? Magazine umpteen times. I worked for Currys Digital as a Christmas temp once, horrific experience. Literally forcing insurance policies down customer's throats. Sales sales sales, money money money, was the game plan. Who cares about how we treat the customers as long as we meet or exceed targets?

I imagine the same sort of experience would happen at PC World and the old Dixons stores.

Judging him from his stores, I really don't think he suits the Apple culture nor the experience Apple wants customers to have at its stores.

[daneoni]

Downgrade from Ronny IMHO.

[CplBadboy]

I almost choked on my morning tea when I read this!. I am actually astounded that they have hired this bloke.

Dixons have to be the worst retail experience here in Europe. Their profits have dipped considerably and theres talk of them closing stores across the UK. Their staff are just people there to sell the goods on the shelf. The absolute majority havent got a clue about any of the tech that it sells and their customer after sales has to be amongst the most dissatisfying in the industry. I first shopped at Dixons in 93/94. i purchased the first Playstation there. It was really funny watching and hearing the sales assistant read of the description card as he tried to explain how great this console was. I caught him out with a few relatively easy questions of my own and he just just fumbled and bumbled around the answer. Ive been back since in my adulthood and more importantly after 2007. Its still the same experience and same shoddy service, shoddy display architecture of the electronic goods and same unenthusiastic staff. So whats that tell you?? Thats right this bloke like the ones that have preceded him hasn't managed to change anything!!

I walk out everytime knowing that Im better of shopping elsewhere.

Good Luck Apple, best you keep a tight leash on this one. Just to be safe

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Originally Posted by daneoni

Downgrade from Ronny IMHO.

Yup!

[hollerz]

Pretty much the same reaction as everyone else when I read this. I'd be amazed if Apple hadn't sent mystery shoppers around DSG stores, be even more amazed if they had a good experience.

[PDE]

Originally Posted by CplBadboy

I almost choked on my morning tea when I read this!. I am actually astounded that they have hired this bloke.

Dixons have to be the worst retail experience here in Europe. Their profits have dipped considerably and theres talk of them closing stores across the UK. Their staff are just people there to sell the goods on the shelf. The absolute majority havent got a clue about any of the tech that it sells and their customer after sales has to be amongst the most dissatisfying in the industry. I first shopped at Dixons in 93/94. i purchased the first Playstation there. It was really funny watching and hearing the sales assistant read of the description card as he tried to explain how great this console was. I caught him out with a few relatively easy questions of my own and he just just fumbled and bumbled around the answer. Ive been back since in my adulthood and more importantly after 2007. Its still the same experience and same shoddy service, shoddy display architecture of the electronic goods and same unenthusiastic staff. So whats that tell you?? Thats right this bloke like the ones that have preceded him hasn't managed to change anything!!

I walk out everytime knowing that Im better of shopping elsewhere.

Good Luck Apple, best you keep a tight leash on this one. Just to be safe

----------



Yup!

That's the thing. Unlike an Apple Store, where customers don't want to leave, Dixons/PCWorld makes you want to leave as quickly as possible. They're pushy, uninformed or simply liars, prices are not competitive, return policy is arbitrary and unclear (online is better) and there's just nothing appealing about any aspect of the shopping experience.

As you, even if I go in to look at something I always walk out knowing that I can have a much better experience elsewhere, pay much less and enjoy good support and a fair return policy.

When I go to an Apple Store I pay full retail price even though I could get an item cheaper elsewhere, but I'm also always confident that I will get excellent service, support and, if for any reason there is a problem, Apple will make it right.

I'm hoping that Apple saw something in this guy that we just don't know.

[Sweetchilli]

Originally Posted by Dangerous Theory

They're not employing him to revolutionise their retail strategy. He's obviously an intelligent man with plenty of contacts and the ability to drive more retail openings. It's all about widening their audiences and focusing a lot more on European countries, an area in which he clearly has knowledge.

I agree,


So many negative people on these forums

[Tom in London]

Originally Posted by hollerz

Pretty much the same reaction as everyone else when I read this. I'd be amazed if Apple hadn't sent mystery shoppers around DSG stores, be even more amazed if they had a good experience.

Apple doesn't do market research. We know that from Lion.

[leon44]

What next? Barry Scott as new head of marketing? D:

Currys used to encourage old people to buy two copies of Norton Antivirus for 'double protection' true story

[Tom in London]

Originally Posted by Sweetchilli

So many negative people on these forums

.. for a reason.

[AAPLaday]

I wouldnt be surprised if PC world go out of business within next few years. They are struggling badly. Awful product information. Pushy salesmen with extended warranty. Selling year old systems as new. Still selling the White Macbook, and advertising it as new. Rubbish inventory. Etc. Most of the staff there seem like they are temps

I haven shopped there for about 8 years. I only go in if i need to see a product in the flesh, then i go buy it from the net.

[superleccy]

Jasper Carrott summed it up in his sketch in the early 1980s:

Jasper Carrott: So, these new Sony Walkmans, can they fast-foward AND rewind?
Dixons Sales Assistant: Yeah, yeah, it can fast-forward, rewind, yeah, it's a walkman.
JC: And can they play AND record?
DSA: Yeah, yeah, fast-forward and rewind, play and record, yeah, it's a walkman.
JC: And can you microwave pigeons in them?
DSA: Yeah, yeah, play and record, fast-forward and rewind, microwave pigeons, yeah, it's a walkman...

Etc etc...

SL

[iOrlando]

This forum is delusional (as is often the case these days).

I have never heard of Dixon's but I find it hilarious that everyone on this thread thinks they are in a better position to quantify Browett's attributes than the executive search team and subsequent Senior Managers of Apple.

I also laugh when I see clear anti-Apple zealots (ironically on this site) talking about how this marks the top of Apple. These people said the same thing once iPhone 4S was introduced, they will say it again when iPad 3 is introduced, and also with every subsequent Apple product. These people are clueless, they have been consistently wrong, and should be ignored.


The biggest risk here is that Browett, an outsider, doesn't fit in with Apple's culture.

[Tom in London]

Originally Posted by iOrlando

The biggest risk here is that Browett, an outsider, doesn't fit in with Apple's culture.

Care to describe what Apple's culture is?

[Anaemik]

Originally Posted by iOrlando

This forum is delusional (as is often the case these days).

Yeah, we're all just here to hate because we have nothing better to do. It's not because we have decades of direct experience of the retail establishments that this guy can cite as his track record or anything like that. All we want to do is baselessly bash him for the hell of it because we're overflowing with unbridled misanthropy and an irratioanal hate for all things Apple.

I have never heard of Dixon's

Yet you still assume that we're all looking on this news negatively because it's an inherent flaw in our personalities rather than our real world experience being reflected in our comments. OK.

[sananda]

Is this the new strategy to deplete the cash pile by making the stores hideous unwelcoming money losing temples of idiocy?

[iOrlando]

Originally Posted by Tom in London

Care to describe what Apple's culture is?

Here's just a few examples.

1) Senior managers get involved with the smallest details (almost unheard of at large companies)
2) Apple stresses the team (very similar to a start-up) with almost a carousel-like structure where senior managers will switch priorities to the product closest to release.
3) "If it's not ready, we don't ship"

[yegon]

Have to echo others who say how awful Dixons/PC World is. Doesn't necessarily mean this guy is useless, but by the same token it's hardly a ringing endorsement.

[Kilamite]

Originally Posted by iOrlando

I have never heard of Dixon's but I find it hilarious that everyone on this thread thinks they are in a better position to quantify Browett's attributes than the executive search team and subsequent Senior Managers of Apple.

Well, having shopped in the Dixon Group Stores for many years, I can raise an eyebrow as to his appointment, given his stores have never been anywhere near satisfactory for customer service. Nor is the experience meant to be seamless.

Since you have never heard of Dixon's, how can you have a dig at people who are puzzled my this appointment who have heard about Dixon's?

[Arran]

Yikes. This is how I remember Dixons stores. Are they still like that?

[AAPLaday]

Originally Posted by iOrlando

This forum is delusional (as is often the case these days).

I have never heard of Dixon's but I find it hilarious that everyone on this thread thinks they are in a better position to quantify Browett's attributes than the executive search team and subsequent Senior Managers of Apple.

I also laugh when I see clear anti-Apple zealots (ironically on this site) talking about how this marks the top of Apple. These people said the same thing once iPhone 4S was introduced, they will say it again when iPad 3 is introduced, and also with every subsequent Apple product. These people are clueless, they have been consistently wrong, and should be ignored.


The biggest risk here is that Browett, an outsider, doesn't fit in with Apple's culture.

Its easy. The majority of UK users on this site will have negative things to say about Currys/Dixons/PC World because they have shopped there. My dad used to go there in the 80s and things were as bad then. Perhaps even worse.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone on here has worked there and can offer more of an insight into the slimey tactics and things they were forced to do

[PDE]

Originally Posted by iOrlando

This forum is delusional (as is often the case these days).

I have never heard of Dixon's but I find it hilarious that everyone on this thread thinks they are in a better position to quantify Browett's attributes than the executive search team and subsequent Senior Managers of Apple.

I also laugh when I see clear anti-Apple zealots (ironically on this site) talking about how this marks the top of Apple. These people said the same thing once iPhone 4S was introduced, they will say it again when iPad 3 is introduced, and also with every subsequent Apple product. These people are clueless, they have been consistently wrong, and should be ignored.


The biggest risk here is that Browett, an outsider, doesn't fit in with Apple's culture.

If you were employing someone for a top position in your company, would it matter what his CV said if you knew from your research, years of personal experience and many large customer surveys that the company he previously played a key role in was a) struggling financially b) had a proven and consistent track-record of inferior customer service and c) was widely disliked by customers?

Would this be the guy you hire to handle your retail? Obviously not unless you were trying to drive your company out of business. That's why people here are surprised. Immature to suggest that they're/we're anti-apple zealots. In fact, if you ever come to the UK, I strongly recommend a field trip to Dixons or PCWorld. Or maybe you'll soon be able to have a similar experience at your local Apple Store?! :-)

Anyway...i'm certainly hoping that Apple knows something that we don't!

[Rogifan]

Originally Posted by iOrlando

This forum is delusional (as is often the case these days).

I have never heard of Dixon's but I find it hilarious that everyone on this thread thinks they are in a better position to quantify Browett's attributes than the executive search team and subsequent Senior Managers of Apple.

I also laugh when I see clear anti-Apple zealots (ironically on this site) talking about how this marks the top of Apple. These people said the same thing once iPhone 4S was introduced, they will say it again when iPad 3 is introduced, and also with every subsequent Apple product. These people are clueless, they have been consistently wrong, and should be ignored.


The biggest risk here is that Browett, an outsider, doesn't fit in with Apple's culture.

This. Apple's retail strategy is pretty much set in stone. I can't see this guy changing what is clearly a success. Now it's about getting into more countries.

[yegon]

Originally Posted by Arran

Yikes. This is how I remember Dixons stores. Are they still like that?

Lol, they're not quite as bad as that these days, but it's not far removed!

[AAPLaday]

They would have been better off appointing someone from John Lewis instead.

[Steve121178]

Originally Posted by Arran

Yikes. This is how I remember Dixons stores. Are they still like that?

They were re-branded Currys Digital, they stores are an improvement over the old Dixons stores, but the shopping 'experience' is still the same.

To be honest, I find Apple Store's a complete train wreck of an experience also. There's so many people crammed in, I have often just walked out as it became too much of a chore to simply purchase the item I had intended.

And at the flagship store in London, it's rammed full of freeloaders & tourists making use of the free internet available on the demo machines. It's impossible to actually go in and browse the stuff without bumping into a trillion people.