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Apple Bringing Store-Within-a-Store Concept to Target?
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I picked up 3 DSi's when I was in Florida for Christmas one year. They seem like a Walmart type of store to me. They sell everything. lol
It'll give people more official Apple places to buy products, than having to go to an authorised reseller. I'd imagine things like a mini Genius bar will exist too, even if the Genius can't do repairs and have to send the product to the nearest Apple Store (least it is Apple doing it, not some shop like Walmart). The Genius will be able to replace products there too - something authorised resellers wouldn't so easily.
I think the concept will work for areas where there is no Apple Store around. It'll give people more confidence in buying from Apple if there is an official "mini store" in their town where they can get the proper warranty support and advice.
That's hilarious, I'm actually banned from my local best buy because I overheard a sales person tell someone that the solid state drive on a macbook air is far less reliable than a conventional drive, and after so many reads/writes gives out, usually in the time period of a year. He was talking to a little old lady that knew nothing about computers and just wanted to check her email, and he was trying to force a 15" pro on her. I corrected him in front of a few people and told the lady what she should be looking at, which got the district manager involved and me banned for life.
Great Idea
This is a great idea. Outside of Apple stores and Best Buys the ability to try an apple product is terrible. At Target and Walmart they lock their iPads behind glass so you can't even try them. At one Walmart I was in somebody wanted to try an iPad and the store clerk held it over the counter and let them try it! They could not even hold it themselves. Needless to say they gravitated towards a cheaper Acer 7 inch tablet....
This is a great idea. Outside of Apple stores and Best Buys the ability to try an apple product is terrible. At Target and Walmart they lock their iPads behind glass so you can't even try them. At one Walmart I was in somebody wanted to try an iPad and the store clerk held it over the counter and let them try it! They could not even hold it themselves. Needless to say they gravitated towards a cheaper Acer 7 inch tablet....
I worked at an Apple reseller back in the 80's and we stood 110% behind our clients. There was a sense of 'ownership' of them as we spent the time introducing them to the products and doing the setup and installations. If anything, it was Apple occasionally flipping out that cost them, and the reseller, customers. That was back when the major religion at Apple took place to shut down their dealer channel programs as I remember and Apple would sometimes artificially limit parts availability and pull some other not too cool stuff...
I think in the end many of the resellers were glad to either dump, or be dumped by Apple... THAT is probably also when Apple gave up the business market too. Businesses at that point wanted to go to a real reseller why knew what the products were like and could support them. Apple made that all but impossible.
Yes, the stores were not Apple owned back in the late 70s and early to mid 80s. They focused primarily on Apple products and provided support for Apple related software as well as equipment.
As Windows evolved with greated focus on business, which had far deeper pockets than the average individual, Apple got squeezed out.
I did get approached by one of their management bots once after getting into it with a 'salesperson' and a customer. The chick was apparently some kind of assistant to an assistant at the store and blew the whistle on me when I made her look like a total ass. I didn't get banned but I did get my statement in that she was totally wrong and that if they actually wanted to sell some Apple products and keep the Apple kiosk, they might want to get people a lot more acquainted with the Apple products so they don't end up essentially lying about them to customers. There was no defense if they truly do not work on commission... (Although I realize that they probably make more on each PC sold than a Mac, but still at some point I wonder why they wanted the kiosks in the first place.)
The last sentence in the news article is, maybe, a problem:
"although Best Buy employees may also assist customers"
"although Best Buy employees may also assist customers"
I can see how some would be skeptical of this move, but Apple must have some metrics that show this is working in the stores that they currently have the mini-store installations or they wouldn't do it. Companies don't just sling crap at the wall to see what sticks. There is a ridiculous amount of analysis and thought that goes into these kinds of things.
I agree that the sales staff of Target stores probably won't be as good as a legit Apple employee at helping customers understand how to use the devices, but Apple is attempting to address that with their specialists.
In the end, this is probably a simple idea of putting products in front of as many people as possible to drive sales. It will work.
I agree that the sales staff of Target stores probably won't be as good as a legit Apple employee at helping customers understand how to use the devices, but Apple is attempting to address that with their specialists.
In the end, this is probably a simple idea of putting products in front of as many people as possible to drive sales. It will work.
The last sentence in the news article is, maybe, a problem:
"although Best Buy employees may also assist customers"
But as I pointed out earlier, out of 21 locations in Michigan, only 5 have Apple 'consultants'.
Without Apple people, you lose control of your brand. That's not a small thing when your brand has been marketed as a 'top tier premium' brand...
How many Lamborghini dealers do you see around? Or BMW dealers either...
I believe this is happening. Stopped by my local target last night noticed its little renovation. There is a designated floor area taped up near the main entrance and checkout. It seems like a decent size for display small macs.
For a while in the 90's Apple did exactly that. It did not work out so well then and I doubt it will now. This sort of stuff demonstrates why Jobs was so important to Apple.
I don't know why Apple continues to do this. They did it at CompUSA and it failed. They do it at Fry's and the Apple section my as well be near the bathrooms.
I think comparing Apple's selling techniques and handling of resellers of the 80s and of now is irrelevant..
Apple is doing this because Target shares the same retail philosophy as Apple.
Nobody here has picked up on the fact that the guy who Apple brought in to start the Apple retail initiative (Ron Johnson, now CEO of JC Penny) was VP of Merchandising at Target.
Nobody here has picked up on the fact that the guy who Apple brought in to start the Apple retail initiative (Ron Johnson, now CEO of JC Penny) was VP of Merchandising at Target.
I used to work at Best Buy, and I did exactly the opposite. My particular store did not have an "Apple Shop," and when customers would ask about Macs vs. PCs, I would pretty much always vouch for Macs, despite not selling them in the store. Customers also would frequently as me what brand of computer I had, and I would always honestly tell them I owned a Mac. (Actually, out all the other employees in the PC department, a majority of us owned and used Macs exclusively, including my supervisor and sales manager.)
I remember one particular night when I discussed Macs with a college student and her parents for about an hour, even going past store closing. Now, of course I probably would have gotten ripped to pieces if any one above me had heard me saying anything negative about the only computers stocked in the store, and even though I did not make a sale, but I did it anyway, for several reasons:
1) The regular Best Buy sales associates don't make any kind of commission. None whatsoever. So it didn't matter to me if I spent an hour or more with a customer and they bought $10 worth of product or $10,000. That's not to say that I would neglect other customers in the store though, because that takes me to my next point...
2) When you are honest and up front with a customer, and genuinely want to help them and not fool them, they appreciate it. It was very much frowned upon, but if a customer needed more time to think about a purchase, or go physically check out a competitor, including the Apple Store, I said "Hey, sure thing!"
3) Because of this, I knew that a lot of the times, they would come back to purchase something from me, and since I was a representation of Best Buy, from the company. For some reason, it seems Best Buy is only concerned about the now, rather than the long-term relationship with the customer, even though in their training they stress that the company should provide a long-term relationship with the customer (in the form of financing, Geek Squad services, and customer loyalty programs like Reward Zone). But if it takes a day or two for a customer to go out, check out other products, and come back, then I didn't see the big deal. And a lot of the times when people would come back, they would use the Best Buy offers like financing and the Geek Squad protection... AND, Best Buy makes more profit off Macs than any other computer they sell. So when I sold Macs in a store that didn't even have them on display, if anything they should praised me. (Even though they weren't on display, we could have them shipped to the store, or order them via another store so that the store I worked at, and myself for store reporting, was marked as the seller.)
4) I also got more positive feedback from customers, like them telling managers and supervisors how nice, honest, etc. I was. This didn't matter in any way monetarily, but it was always nice to hear that sort of thing -- a good break from other customers trying to bring me down all day and treating me as their personal bitch.
So, point is, not all Best Buy employees are brain-dead slaves, or don't know their stuff. Several of the people I worked with have gone on to work at Apple Stores. Despite their Apple training, they are the same people. And to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the current Best Buy training and current Apple training were pretty much identical, from reading the training docs that were leaked a while ago. And yes, Best Buy employees do get training, tons of it. But the fact is, a lot of the people that work at Best Buy just don't care -- they are younger teens who don't appreciate working for their money, or they really feel like **** from customers being nasty all day. The employees at the Apple Store are going to care more -- because if you work at an Apple store, you obviously have strong brand loyalty already, and customers treat their employees better because the stores do have a premium feel.
I'm posting this because the bad-mouthing, hasty generalizations against all Best Buy employees irks me. They are still people, and they are not all the same idiot drones.
TL;DR: I worked at Best Buy, and told people to buy Macs instead. Employees don't make commission. Customers would come back and buy from me because they appreciated my honesty. Best Buy makes more profit from Macs than any other computer they sell.
I remember one particular night when I discussed Macs with a college student and her parents for about an hour, even going past store closing. Now, of course I probably would have gotten ripped to pieces if any one above me had heard me saying anything negative about the only computers stocked in the store, and even though I did not make a sale, but I did it anyway, for several reasons:
1) The regular Best Buy sales associates don't make any kind of commission. None whatsoever. So it didn't matter to me if I spent an hour or more with a customer and they bought $10 worth of product or $10,000. That's not to say that I would neglect other customers in the store though, because that takes me to my next point...
2) When you are honest and up front with a customer, and genuinely want to help them and not fool them, they appreciate it. It was very much frowned upon, but if a customer needed more time to think about a purchase, or go physically check out a competitor, including the Apple Store, I said "Hey, sure thing!"
3) Because of this, I knew that a lot of the times, they would come back to purchase something from me, and since I was a representation of Best Buy, from the company. For some reason, it seems Best Buy is only concerned about the now, rather than the long-term relationship with the customer, even though in their training they stress that the company should provide a long-term relationship with the customer (in the form of financing, Geek Squad services, and customer loyalty programs like Reward Zone). But if it takes a day or two for a customer to go out, check out other products, and come back, then I didn't see the big deal. And a lot of the times when people would come back, they would use the Best Buy offers like financing and the Geek Squad protection... AND, Best Buy makes more profit off Macs than any other computer they sell. So when I sold Macs in a store that didn't even have them on display, if anything they should praised me. (Even though they weren't on display, we could have them shipped to the store, or order them via another store so that the store I worked at, and myself for store reporting, was marked as the seller.)
4) I also got more positive feedback from customers, like them telling managers and supervisors how nice, honest, etc. I was. This didn't matter in any way monetarily, but it was always nice to hear that sort of thing -- a good break from other customers trying to bring me down all day and treating me as their personal bitch.
So, point is, not all Best Buy employees are brain-dead slaves, or don't know their stuff. Several of the people I worked with have gone on to work at Apple Stores. Despite their Apple training, they are the same people. And to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the current Best Buy training and current Apple training were pretty much identical, from reading the training docs that were leaked a while ago. And yes, Best Buy employees do get training, tons of it. But the fact is, a lot of the people that work at Best Buy just don't care -- they are younger teens who don't appreciate working for their money, or they really feel like **** from customers being nasty all day. The employees at the Apple Store are going to care more -- because if you work at an Apple store, you obviously have strong brand loyalty already, and customers treat their employees better because the stores do have a premium feel.
I'm posting this because the bad-mouthing, hasty generalizations against all Best Buy employees irks me. They are still people, and they are not all the same idiot drones.
TL;DR: I worked at Best Buy, and told people to buy Macs instead. Employees don't make commission. Customers would come back and buy from me because they appreciated my honesty. Best Buy makes more profit from Macs than any other computer they sell.