Apple's Ron Johnson on the Retail Store Experience

[aristobrat]

They need to realize that if I tell them I'm there to buy something, then I just want to buy it and leave

How do they tell you from the other 50% of customers that are there to buy their first Mac and know nothing about the services and promotions?

Or if they have heard about the services and promotions, they don't know the details, like the "included one-year warranty" doesn't provide free telephone support after 90 days? Or that One-to-One and the "free printer" can only be purchased at the same time they buy a new Mac? Or that MobileMe and iWork are $30 off when they buy a new Mac/iOS device? Or that if you're already have MobileMe when you buy another new Mac/iOS device, you can still buy another one for $30 off and use it to extend your existing account? These things do mean something to some people, and they have no idea if any of it may mean something to you unless they ask you about it.

At the store I work at, the most frequent customer complain is "I didn't know that I couldn't buy One-to-One at a later date. When I bought my Mac, nobody told me that." Customers in this situation more often than not will get extremely upset.

So if you come in and tell me you're in a hurry and just want to buy a "widget" and get the hell out, I'll work quickly. I'll even physically jog/run to the BOH to get the item for you. But I will explain things to you. It takes me less than 30-seconds to bullet-point services and promotions, and I don't have to worry about you coming back in and pitching a fit when you're told that you can't do your free printer rebate because you bought your Mac two weeks ago.

As a Brit I find it incredibly frustrating not being able to queue for a salesperson! You hover around an Apple employee dealing with a customer and several other customers also approach, but because you are surrounding the salesperson you have to do battle to get served without others pushing in. Some customers demand a huge amount of time to discuss their screen protector purchase while I want to buy a MacBook Air!

I much preferred it when you could queue in an orderly manner at a designated sales desk.

Apple tried the Concierge system, ... the employees in the bright orange shirts that would actually keep track of who was next to be helped... essentially a queue. Didn't work. Customers found that process too confusing.

What still exists is the Personal Shopping reservation. It's free. You simply make an online appointment for a specific date/time, and they'll have someone waiting for you when you get to the store.

 

[tigress666]

I'll probably get myself yelled at, but i just wanted to point out that those services all enhance the user's experience in some way. AppleCare for warranty and getting your products serviced, One to One is great for education and a little assistance in various areas with new apple products you buy. MobileMe makes synchronization between apple products and PCs pretty seamless, although i've never had it and have heard about some problems with it, it also has e-mail as well as online storage.
Apple tends to try to figure out what the consumer wants, even if they don't know it themselves, i mean, why do they offer such a limited choice of design in their products? They try to figure out what you truly want, not what you think you want, then sell it to you, and it has worked out pretty well over the years.
Some people would be offended by the mere thought that they don't know what they want, but it is often true. You come into a store to buy a macbook pro, and they suggest a macbook, or maybe they say a 13'' would be better than a 15'' MBP. Whatever the situation, it's all what the consumer would be happy with in the long run. Sure, they may push applecare/MobileMe/One to One, but like i said, i think it's good for us.

You ever hear the phrase "The customer is always right"? People in retail hate it. It's misused all the time (no, the customer is not always right).

*But*, it's original meaning was that when the customer tells you they want that product, they want *that* product, and to not try piss them off arguing with them that they want *this* product instead. At least that was the original intention behind it.

Personally, I as a customer, am going to be far more irritated if I say no thank you and you keep pushing, or if i say I'm not interested, I just want this, and you still insist on trying to sell me other stuff, then if you forgot to/didn't mention something that I would have found advantageous. One action will make me not want to come back, the other one might have me slightly irritated but I'll shrug my shoulders and realize sometimes it doesn't occur to people to mention that.

 

[quixote18]

Go cry me a river will you? I went into the store today to get a magic mouse. Simple purchase yeah? Well after walking through the store for 15 minutes trying to grab the attention of an employee, being told by two employees they couldn't help me because they were 'running a workshop' (watching kids play on the macs) I finally found one person who was willing to ring up the purchase for me. Product works great, didn't get a bag, didn't get the receipt emailed to me as I REQUESTED, and when I brought it up to another individual in the store, he told me to go stand in the Genius line (halfway through the store) and maybe they could help me.

I'm not that old but I was taught to dress for the job you want not the job you have and act accordingly. That will be the LAST time I ever step foot into an Apple store

So... would you have preferred the Specialist who was zoned to teach a 1-hour workshop leave the group of people they were teaching, find an Easy Pay, and assisted you with your purchase? What if you had been in the workshop, trying to learn how to use your iPad, and a frazzled customer insisted the person leading your workshop left you and helped them?

Did you ask for a bag?

It seems like people are just confused about how Apple retail works. Each Specialist, Genius, etc. is ZONED to be in a particular area of the store, for a very specific amount of time. If a Specialist is leading a workshop, they do not sell computers. If a Genius is assisting with Genius Bar appointments, they will not be able to leave what they are doing and ring out your iPhone case. When you ask someone for help, they will know who to send you to. Very rarely does this get miscommunicated, and it's because there are a million people in the store at any given point and some people get lost in the fray.

I wish people would have more personal accountability. You want a bag? Ask for it. You want your receipt re-emailed to you? Simply ask the Specialist to. They will oblige. You're standing around for 30 minutes without being asked if you need help? ASK FOR HELP. It's really not that difficult. Apple stores are busy, hectic places and Apple employees try the best they can to keep each and every customer on their radar. Sometimes people fall through the cracks, but that's life. Take responsibility and ask for help if you need it.

 

[kingtj]

You might have a really good point here ....

I have some of the same issues with Apple stores that you're complaining about here. Basically, they assume I'm far less sophisticated of a user than I really am (25 years of computer experience or so). When I decide I want to come in and purchase from them, I already know exactly what I want -- or else I'm purposely there just to compare a few items, hands-on. (When I'm comparing, I'm probably just trying to get a feel for overall performance differences -- so a sales rep. isn't going to add anything positive to my research then, either.)

I always feel like I have to explain that I'm a long-time Apple user and know all about the products, just to ensure they don't spend/waste time telling me things I already know.

(Every time I've had a question for them, they couldn't answer it anyway. Often, I needed to know about a newly released product that they had very little experience with at that point.)

So what I'd like to see is a way to create a profile of the type of user you are, stored with your customer info. (I mean, when I go to get a haircut these days, they ask me my phone number, look me up, and all of a sudden they know exactly which clippers I prefer they use, the name of my kid, and so on. Why can't Apple do something similar, where they're alerted if you're a beginner, intermediate or pro user?)

I've never really liked the Apple retail experience ever since they got rid of the dedicated checkout counters. I bought an iPad and an iPhone 4 in the store recently. With the iPad, I had reserved it and waited about two weeks before they got any in stock. When I went in to pick it up, I had to wait around for about 10 minutes while they apparently found someone who was able to actually go get it for me from the back room. But before he did that, he spent another 10 minutes with me at a demo iPad showing me how cool it was and what it could do. Did it never occur to him that I was already there to buy it? He didn't need to sell it to me! Then after he went back and got it, he spent another 5 minutes trying to upsell me on AppleCare and MobileMe, neither of which I wanted. And when I told him "If I decide I want AppleCare, I can just buy it 11 months from now and get the same coverage as if I bought it now" he said "Well, that's true, but what I like to tell people is if you need phone support after the first 90 days it's $50 per call." Of course, I have never needed phone support for any product I've ever owned, so I don't think that will be an issue for me. Funnily enough, basically the same thing happened when I went in to buy my iPhone 4 on launch day, including that line about phone support, even though it was a different sales person. They need to realize that if I tell them I'm there to buy something, then I just want to buy it and leave -- they don't need to convince me to buy something I've already said I want to buy, and when I say no to the upsell, they need to just leave it at that.

 

[nighttrain2008]

So... would you have preferred the Specialist who was zoned to teach a 1-hour workshop leave the group of people they were teaching, find an Easy Pay, and assisted you with your purchase? What if you had been in the workshop, trying to learn how to use your iPad, and a frazzled customer insisted the person leading your workshop left you and helped them?

A) they were 'watching' children play on computers
B) they were sharing a joke with their backs to the children and had been for several minutes.

Must be some form of teaching I've never heard of

I wish people would have more personal accountability. You want a bag? Ask for it. You want your receipt re-emailed to you? Simply ask the Specialist to.

Personal accountability?!? It USED to be (well in every store that actually exhibits customer service and wants to ensure low loss) the associate OFFERED a bag. They OFFERED to help. Because they didn't want bad reviews. If they're low on staff, hire more. If they can't set the expectation with the client. 15 years ago, I was in retail sales myself. Quite successful at it but not something I wanted to do the rest of my life. Why was I successful? Because I preempted the client's concerns, questions, and needs professionally and with a smile. Tell someone to smile in this store and they may very well slug you. I told my girlfriend the other day the concept of customer service was completely gone. With your attitude it is.

You're standing around for 30 minutes without being asked if you need help? ASK FOR HELP. It's really not that difficult. Apple stores are busy, hectic places and Apple employees try the best they can to keep each and every customer on their radar. Sometimes people fall through the cracks, but that's life. Take responsibility and ask for help if you need it.

Contrary to your idea, I asked several people. Come to think of it, I asked 5 people before the 6th one helped me (and that was so substandard I don't even want to rehash it). As for 'falling through the cracks', there were quite a few of us and I saw one person leave. The only thing that is keeping this store in business is its location

 

[LagunaSol]

A) they were 'watching' children play on computers
B) they were sharing a joke with their backs to the children and had been for several minutes.

Must be some form of teaching I've never heard of

Isn't that part of the Montessori method?

 

[eye]

Visiting an Apple store is definitely cool. It's nice to be able to try out products with no pressure. Unfortunately, the lack of a check out counter is a huge waste of my time when I want to actually buy something. Also, the employees seem to be chosen for how hipster they are rather than their knowledge of the products.

They are very nice and very helpful, but were trying to push apple care and mobile me. Overall, I like Apple's ideas, but a few tweaks would make it run much more efficiently.

 

[quixote18]

A) they were 'watching' children play on computers
B) they were sharing a joke with their backs to the children and had been for several minutes.

Must be some form of teaching I've never heard of



Personal accountability?!? It USED to be (well in every store that actually exhibits customer service and wants to ensure low loss) the associate OFFERED a bag. They OFFERED to help. Because they didn't want bad reviews. If they're low on staff, hire more. If they can't set the expectation with the client. 15 years ago, I was in retail sales myself. Quite successful at it but not something I wanted to do the rest of my life. Why was I successful? Because I preempted the client's concerns, questions, and needs professionally and with a smile. Tell someone to smile in this store and they may very well slug you. I told my girlfriend the other day the concept of customer service was completely gone. With your attitude it is.



Contrary to your idea, I asked several people. Come to think of it, I asked 5 people before the 6th one helped me (and that was so substandard I don't even want to rehash it). As for 'falling through the cracks', there were quite a few of us and I saw one person leave. The only thing that is keeping this store in business is its location

Are you familiar with Apple's Youth Workshops?

http://www.apple.com/retail/youthworkshops/

These workshops are generally an hour long and are led by Specialists. They were not "watching" the kids on the computers. They may have been allowing them to work on whatever was just taught to them. Regardless, they were performing a specific function within the store. It sounds like you just misunderstood.

 

[aristobrat]

Personal accountability?!? It USED to be (well in every store that actually exhibits customer service and wants to ensure low loss) the associate OFFERED a bag.

FWIW, this is from a year-and-a-half ago.

In its latest effort to positively impact the environment, Apple's retail stores have initiated a new "no plastic bags" policy to cut back on the amount of unnecessary packaging it dumps in the hands of shoppers.


If you want a bag at Apple, you have to ask for one.

 

[tigress666]

FWIW, this is from a year-and-a-half ago.

In its latest effort to positively impact the environment, Apple's retail stores have initiated a new "no plastic bags" policy to cut back on the amount of unnecessary packaging it dumps in the hands of shoppers.


If you want a bag at Apple, you have to ask for one.

And I personally think it is a great idea.

Why is it so hard to ask for a bag? That way those who don't need it don't get one that ends up filling up the landfill and if you need one, you can just simply ask. Long as they happily provide it if you ask I fail to see the complaint here.

As for "watching the kids" I can easily see why some one tasked to that is told not to leave their station. Sure, he may not be having an eagle eye on them, but I'm sure they want him there to generally see what is going on, be available for questions, and in general just make sure things are going smoothly. Sure, maybe one person wanting to buy something may not take up too much time, problem is, then all the sudden everyone who wants to buy something says, "Oh, it's just me." Better off and less complicated to assign him that task and refer those people to some one else that does not need to be overseeing a group. Where bad service might fall in is if they haven't assigned enough people to take care of the general store issues like checking people out but that is not the fault of the guy overseeing the kids, he's doing his job.

 

[ANPRED]

Be familiar with store

The Apple Store is great.. If you are completely familiar with it. You know the best times to go (Thursday Nights at 7 works great). My 12 year old sister recently went to the apple store on her bday to buy an iMac. She saved 3 years worth Christmas/birthday money and gift cards for it. The "black shirt" helped us, gave her a discount and the staff clapped and cheered when she left. If you get familiar with your local apple store you should have no problems

 

[satcomer]

The Apple store is great... unless you actually want to just walk in and buy something.

Then you search for 15 minutes trying to find an employee who is not busy helping someone else so you can check out.

I miss the dedicated checkout counter.

My thoughts Exactly!!!