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Apple Aiming to Grow in India by Building Standalone Franchise Stores in Small Markets

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple India executives Maneesh Dhir and Sanjay Kaul have stated in a meeting with retailers that the company will be focusing on consumers in small cities and towns in the country in order to grow sales, reports The Economic Times (via The Next Web).

The executives state that Apple desires to build 100 exclusive standalone stores under the franchise model in smaller markets, and will aim to do so by the end of the current fiscal year. The company is precisely interested in the changing demographic of the market, with both executives feeling that the aspiration level of Apple products amongst the youth are growing along with the population of wealthy citizens.

istore_hyderabad_india.jpg
The move comes amid Samsung's success in the Indian hinterland, said a senior executive with a retail chain, besides which companies such as Sony and Nokia have been able to sell smartphones costing in excess of 30,000 in areas outside the metros. The 16 GB iPhone 5 costs 45,500. India pricing for the upcoming iPhone models - the 5C and the 5S - hasn't been announced yet.

"Apple has realised that if it wants to grow fast in India, it has to look beyond the metros," said the CEO of one of India's retail chains. The company wants to grow upwards of 30% year-on-year in India and feels the smaller markets would play a critical role since the aspiration level of Apple products amongst the youth and rich is growing there as well.
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India notably does not have any Apple Retail Stores in its country; however a report in January 2012 stated that Apple was interested to build stores in the country after business regulations were eased. Apple was also planning for 'significant growth' of its reseller network in India as reported last March.

Figures from research firm Canalys reported in August for Q2 2013 showed that India is now the third largest smartphone market in the world, with 129% growth in the region resulting in 9 million smartphone shipments during the quarter. Apple CEO Tim Cook also mentioned during the company's Q3 2013 earnings call that iPhone sales in India were increased by 400% year-on-year, while the iPad posted double-digit growth in the region, highlighting the potential for future growth in the market.

Article Link: Apple Aiming to Grow in India by Building Standalone Franchise Stores in Small Markets
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/04/apple-aiming-to-grow-in-india-by-building-standalone-franchise-stores-in-small-markets/
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tmroper

macrumors regular
Dec 4, 2008
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Palo Alto
"Small cities and towns" means rural areas, and I don't see how those would have consumers with the money for iPhones. Would have been interesting to hear a couple of examples.
 
ipedro

ipedro

macrumors 603
Nov 30, 2004
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MacRumors, you really need to caption your photos. This is a knockoff store, not what Apple has planned. Misleading the reader -- while unintentionally -- is still poor journalism.
 
macintoshmac

macintoshmac

Suspended
May 13, 2010
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@TimeSquareDesi, There is nothing creative about it. The 'i' before anything is quite synonymous with Apple stuff, and iStore simply means "all things i" or "all things Apple". California almonds - almonds from California, right? That's creative for you? McIntosh apples named by John McIntosh after himself. Do we say, "duh!"?

Stop being sarcastic. People went to such great lengths about the name iPad. And today, do they not want it?

It's a name, it serves a purpose. That's it.

@voyagerd, actually, none of those stores are knock-offs. They are legitimately authorised by Apple for selling their products in India. These "Premium Resellers" are the iStore line by Reliance Digital and iPlanet. Then there is Imagine.

@tmroper, a fact for you - here in India, we have our English straight, and I am pretty sure Apple does too, unlike you. 'Small towns' are small towns. Cities are cities, there are big cities and small cities. In India, we have villages too. And I don't see Apple talking about villages. They are talking only about towns and cities.
 
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FelixAng

macrumors regular
Jul 11, 2013
226
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Hong Kong
ipedro said:
MacRumors, you really need to caption your photos. This is a knockoff store, not what Apple has planned. Misleading the reader -- while unintentionally -- is still poor journalism.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but maybe not. In Taiwan, for example, despite being the corporate headquarters for Foxconn, there are no official Apple stores (which is partly due to restrictive commercial laws); instead, there are stores labeled "Authorized Reseller" or "Premium Apple Reseller" and they feature Apple logos and the layout of a traditional Apple store--and, Apple gives them authorization to cover warranties or, in a case that happened to me in Taiwan once, ship my AppleCare+ iPad to a repair hub Apple has in Singapore...in other words, there are indeed knock-off Apple stores (mostly in Mainland China), but I've seen Premium resellers in the mall under my high-rise and they are 100% legit.
 
Will do good

Will do good

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Mar 24, 2010
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tmroper said:
"Small cities and towns" means rural areas, and I don't see how those would have consumers with the money for iPhones. Would have been interesting to hear a couple of examples.
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In China and India small cities could be over 1+ million people. They are small only comparing the the major cities of 5-15 million.
 
N

NitinNike

macrumors member
Apr 10, 2012
76
0
ipedro said:
MacRumors, you really need to caption your photos. This is a knockoff store, not what Apple has planned. Misleading the reader -- while unintentionally -- is still poor journalism.
Click to expand...

I purchase all of my Apple products from this so called *Knockoff* store(according to you of course). Get your facts clear. iStore is an official premium reseller of Apple products.
 
Gasu E.

Gasu E.

macrumors 603
Mar 20, 2004
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tmroper said:
"Small cities and towns" means rural areas, and I don't see how those would have consumers with the money for iPhones. Would have been interesting to hear a couple of examples.
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The whole town could chip in for an iPhone, and keep it in the town center for common use. Or one entrepreneur could buy one and rent it out. Even people living just above the subsistence level could be cool for 5 minutes per month.
 
Nevaborn

Nevaborn

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2013
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Franchises suck.

We have one in my city in the UK and its like an Apple store except not as nicely designed, no genius or proper diagnostics, run by a company with own agenda, and worst of all they cant sell or work on any iPhone products.

So pointless.
 
B

brandscill

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2008
442
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Nevaborn said:
Franchises suck.

We have one in my city in the UK and its like an Apple store except not as nicely designed, no genius or proper diagnostics, run by a company with own agenda, and worst of all they cant sell or work on any iPhone products.

So pointless.
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Agreed, the iStore in Crawley is pretty poor. The member of staff was helpful enough but they have to send everything away to their London repair centre. They also have crazy policies, no box for your mac, use ours it's a £75 charge?!

Not the best service, never busy. Does feel a gap if it's your only option I guess
 
L

liavman

macrumors 6502
Sep 22, 2009
462
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tmroper said:
"Small cities and towns" means rural areas, and I don't see how those would have consumers with the money for iPhones. Would have been interesting to hear a couple of examples.
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From what I heard, in mainly agricultural parts of India, 1 in 10 persons is rich enough for a high end product( probably the land owner), 3 in 10 are aspirational buyers ( meaning, they will work hard and save to buy products that are medium to high end, they are probably second and third in command working for that one rich person ), 4 are value conscious and the bottom 2 are poor enough that they only get to buy the lowest tier phones. That is a rough breakdown of demographics. Samsung has played in to that very well. targetomg that top 4 in 10 market share with galaxy and the value conscious markets with a whole lot of medium and low end smart phones. Apple is trying to get a share of that first 4 in 10. If they can convert 25% of that market segment, they will do very well.
 
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j4zb4

j4zb4

macrumors 6502a
Oct 15, 2011
733
0
tmroper said:
"Small cities and towns" means rural areas, and I don't see how those would have consumers with the money for iPhones. Would have been interesting to hear a couple of examples.
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A lot of population, i.e. many of the farmers, have a lotttt more money than we think... Just that they do not really know how to spend it... And they have so much money again because there is not much to spend on... So you see... It is a huge circle of life... :p

In India the highest number of Porsche Panamera's are sold in Punjab, the owners are wheat farmers... It costs roughly $800,000 here in India...

ipedro said:
MacRumors, you really need to caption your photos. This is a knockoff store, not what Apple has planned. Misleading the reader -- while unintentionally -- is still poor journalism.
Click to expand...

They are authorised resellers... Not knock off stores...

http://www.istoreindia.com/
 
Solomani

Solomani

macrumors 601
Sep 25, 2012
4,785
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Slapfish, North Carolina
tmroper said:
"Small cities and towns" means rural areas, and I don't see how those would have consumers with the money for iPhones. Would have been interesting to hear a couple of examples.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I wonder where all those Indian rice farmers and coastal fishermen actually have the extra $650+ to pay for a low-end iPhone.

The (lack of) presence of Apple retail outlet is not the problem here. It's simply that Apple doesn't currently have products affordably priced for the developing nations.

Sure, India has its share of the wealthy elite tycoons and billionaires, and their spoiled wives and children who are chauffered around in imported Mercedes-Benzes and Lexuses. But if those are the only people who can afford to buy iPhones/iPads in India.... then there can be no growth of the Apple market share at all in such countries.
 
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