I agree. And having a place like an Apple store, I don’t really purchase many products at the retail level, as I usually can find them somewhere cheaper online offered from another vendor. Apple stores are great places to test hands-on with new products, repairs and having more technical questions answered directly. I think Apple stores do really well in the sense of those who actually have them within reaching distance, but something else to consider, is many don’t have Apple stores within reach, which is another reason they might venture onto stores like Best Buy, Fry’s, or MicroCenter.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Angela Ahrendts Talks Apple Retail in New Interview: 'Retail is Not Dying, But it Has to Evolve'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I agree. And having a place like an Apple store, I don’t really purchase many products at the retail level, as I usually can find them somewhere cheaper online offered from another vendor. Apple stores are great places to test hands-on with new products, repairs and having more technical questions answered directly. I think Apple stores do really well in the sense of those who actually have them within reaching distance, but something else to consider, is many don’t have Apple stores within reach, which is another reason they might venture onto stores like Best Buy, Fry’s, or MicroCenter.
The closest Apple store to me is 1.5hrs away. Last time we went in there to check out the IPX in case we made the switch to apple, a lady and her husband had been there 30min just trying to buy a case. They and a few others were pissed. We saw the employees mostly talking among themselves. If you Google Colorsdo Springs apple store they have 3 out of 5 stars and many complaints.
Agree with your whole goods vs. services argument (and the rise of services), except with a tweak to your final paragraph: when I go to the Apple Store, I do see plenty of people buying iPhones, iPads, Watches, and Macs, but those sales generally entail numerous pre-sale/during-sale questions for which the customers expect authoritative answers. Apple Store employees can generally give those answers, rather than taking the "I'm just a salesman" approach. I don't walk into, oh, say, Lowes or Best Buy, expecting to ask the sales associate substantive questions about the capabilities of any of the products they sell, I rely exclusively on online research ahead of time to know, say, which air conditioner to buy. (FWIW, I also know precisely what I want when I walk into Apple, but I see plenty of people there asking questions about phones and watches and such.)
So, Apple Stores provide straight services, yes, but they also provide goods with (can't think of how best to phrase it) informed purchasing advice (yes, I know many can come up with anecdotes of individual Apple retail folks messing up - I'm talking about overall).
Do you always talk like Yoda or just on here? If entitled means being able to pay for food, rent, children's needs and other necessities, then yes, I guess I am. Frankly, I don't and never have worked at an Apple store and make far more than $50 or $80k/yr so it doesn't really affect me and I'm also a pretty hard core republican but if you're going to take 9 hrs of someone's day they should be paid a livable wage. It's not like I'm saying they should be paid $250k/yr, $50k/yr is reasonable. Apple can easily afford it.
Not necessarily, people have other interests / hobbies rather than shopping which is really shallow - on a weekend, i'd rather be surfing, cycling with friends rather than walking around an airless shopping mall that may have been popular in the 1990s.
I'm guilty as charged - I buy everything online except my groceries. I find walking around shops totally soul destroying.
I love all the puffery and spin used by Apple to discuss their stores. What I see when I visit my Apple store are a bunch of people with busted iPhones and Macs getting them serviced, carefully spaced around the store with pot plants in between to disguise how many people have broken devices.
Let's consider ourselves lucky that at least Angela believes in Angela...
Her stores are being impacted by her own fellow board members who figured that vulnerable glass phone repairs have become a second to none aftersales moneymaker in a saturated phone market - which is worth the sacrifice of dissatisfied customer herds flooding the Stores.
So lots of (mental) damage repair to be done there - and with her marketing and luxury background, she'll dig herself out of that hole to survive at 20 mio/yearly
Last edited:
When companies like Apple sell unserviceable, commodity products, the Service Merchandise retail model starts to make a lot of sense. On another front (and this sounds horribly sexist), IMO Angela makes a huge mistake in thinking that men enjoy browsing and shopping. She is feminizing the Apple Stores and it is going to turn male customers away.
^ This, especially the bold part.
I usually go to the 5th Avenue Apple store early in the morning to test and/or buy things, and once they release something that I would consider buying, I will go back. Until such time, no dice.
I will say that I have seen more people buying product there than services even early.
As far as Angela, she has made Apple Stores unpleasant to visit. Every time I go it feels cold and uninviting, the fact that there is no product I want only compounds it. As a woman, I find Apple stores almost off putting now.
Last edited:
All I see is my friends and many others playing fortnite or texting away on their phones. I like that you have a hobby. Wish I had a friend like you that likes to explore
"Apple has already made moves to change up Apple retail locations with next-generation layouts that emphasize communal gathering"
Right.... for users wishing/interested in/to buy Apple products.. It's still a 'store'.. You don't go to one because you have nothing else better to do during the day.
Right.... for users wishing/interested in/to buy Apple products.. It's still a 'store'.. You don't go to one because you have nothing else better to do during the day.
What I like about Apple stores is that you never get lost or carried away because of too many new arrivals. Since years they display the same 20 or so devices. They merely need to dust off the tables once in a while. Easy to navigate and understand. Clean atmosphere to hang out.
[doublepost=1529546316][/doublepost]
Probably because they have higher commission/markup than any hand bag shop, and less floor space than Zara or H&M etc.
[doublepost=1529546316][/doublepost]
Probably because they have higher commission/markup than any hand bag shop, and less floor space than Zara or H&M etc.
Sorry, Angela, but I don't want, need or expect my local Apple store to be a social gathering place; I can and do get my socialization elsewhere. I just want to go in an Apple store in order to look at and handle Apple products, ask questions and then purchase the item in which I've been interested. Sure, I can (and usually) do my homework ahead of time, and I actually achieve this by reading reviews from tech writers as well as member comments on MR, plus getting pricing info from the online Apple store, but I still want that hands-on, immediate gratification experience of seeing and handling the item in the physical brick-and-mortar retail store. A quick transaction in which I hand over my plastic or use my iPhone/Apple Watch for a quick scan to ensure payment, the item is dropped into an Apple bag and I'm out the door, ready to go home and set that new item up, play with it, etc. If I'm not sure about a possible purchase, I appreciate the opportunity to walk into the store two, three or however many times it takes for further hands-on exploration and for asking additional questions and expressing concerns before I finally make the decision one way or another about purchasing a particular Apple product. The only "social" interaction I really need is between a knowledgeable person working the customer area on the sales floor and myself.
I also don't want or need a social experience when I've got a problem with one of my Apple devices and need to make an appointment to take it into the Genius Bar. I just want to walk into the store, item in hand, and have a Genius look it over and diagnose the problem and (hopefully) fairly quickly resolve the problem. I am not interested in developing relationships and becoming best friends with the people sitting on either side of me at the Genius table waiting as their own device issues are being handled. I just want my particular item's problem(s) identified and resolved.
Yes, I'm an introvert. Yes, I just want to do whatever it is I intend/need to do at the Apple store and not have it made into some big social event. I wonder if that is hard for someone like Angela to understand?
I also don't want or need a social experience when I've got a problem with one of my Apple devices and need to make an appointment to take it into the Genius Bar. I just want to walk into the store, item in hand, and have a Genius look it over and diagnose the problem and (hopefully) fairly quickly resolve the problem. I am not interested in developing relationships and becoming best friends with the people sitting on either side of me at the Genius table waiting as their own device issues are being handled. I just want my particular item's problem(s) identified and resolved.
Yes, I'm an introvert. Yes, I just want to do whatever it is I intend/need to do at the Apple store and not have it made into some big social event. I wonder if that is hard for someone like Angela to understand?
Last edited:
I fear you may have misunderstood something here. No-one is going to force you to talk to anyone you don’t to.
No, of course not...... but to me, Angela's idea of Apple Retail Stores being some sort of hub for social gathering just doesn't sound like quite the right direction in which to be focusing.....
Although I have worked in retail (briefly, years ago), in general marketing is not my forte, so I am not about to put forth ideas about how Apple should structure their retail stores. All I can do is state what I feel does not -- or would not -- work for me as a customer, but of course I am only one of many, many customers, each of whom has his or her own needs and desires. Of course the bottom line of any retail facility is to sell products, and one would hope that this would still be achieved, regardless of the approach taken!
I think brick and mortar has been hurt, but who cares what CNN predicts, honestly?
They really don’t have a clue just like everyone else who tries to predict the future.
Even the Apple Online „Store“ has been a horrible user experience ever since they merged it with the info pages. So much clicking around to get anywhere, especially when you are trying to get to accessories or „back“.
Also do their stores sell coffee or something? Why would you hang out at an Apple Store unless you need free WiFi abroad?
Also do their stores sell coffee or something? Why would you hang out at an Apple Store unless you need free WiFi abroad?
If that is the case, and it may well be, Apple stores indeed have a future, as their products of late need more frequent repair - batteries for iPhones, keyboards for laptops come to mind.