'Apple Store' App for iOS Updated to Support New Self-Checkout System for Retail Stores

[mhuk01]

One question about personal pickup - how long do they keep the product in store for you after the 'available from' date?

I want to pickup a refurb iPad when in the states in a few weeks, and obviously it would take a few days (at least) for the iPad to get to a store.

 

[NightFox]

No it is clearly not the same, and I am curious as to why you are getting so angry about it?

As far as the stores in MN are concerned, you could never walk up to a shelf, pick up an item, point your phone at it, and then simply walk out with the item without ever talking to someone.

My curiosity lies within how they deal with the potential security risks, and how they will respond when the inevitable attempt to shoplift occurs. You clearly don't have an answer to that question, nor do I expect anyone here to really have one for me either. Still, I remain curious.

Not angry, just trying to get the attention of those who post the same question and comments but never read the responses

The semantics may be different, but I'm not convinced that increases the risk beyond possibly the psychological 'less likely to be caught' angle. At the end of the day, short of me drawing attention to myself by acting suspiciously, I'm confident I could walk into any busy Apple store now, pick up an item, walk round the store for another minute or so and then just walk straight out.

 

[iRobby]

No it is clearly not the same, and I am curious as to why you are getting so angry about it?

As far as the stores in MN are concerned, you could never walk up to a shelf, pick up an item, point your phone at it, and then simply walk out with the item without ever talking to someone.

My curiosity lies within how they deal with the potential security risks, and how they will respond when the inevitable attempt to shoplift occurs. You clearly don't have an answer to that question, nor do I expect anyone here to really have one for me either. Still, I remain curious.

It is the SAME:

As the stores in MN are concerned, you could always walk up to a shelf, pick up an item, and then simply walk out with the item without ever talking to someone. With the risk of being caught. The same as now except now you can scan it.

 

[Piggie]

I have a new great idea.

Employ enough sales staff in store so you, the customer can be looked after well, just like the service you used to enjoy in the old days.

 

[NightFox]

I have a new great idea.

Employ enough sales staff in store so you, the customer can be looked after well, just like the service you used to enjoy in the old days.

IIRC the 'service I used to enjoy in the old days' seemed to involve a lot of standing in queues waiting to pay for stuff. You can never cost-effectively employ 'enough' sales staff as one minute a store can have 50 customers in it, 5 minutes later there's only 20 in it.

 

[Shrink]

I've accidentally gone through the line with something accidentally left in the cart before. By the time I'm out in the parking lot and realize it, I don't want to go back in the store, explain the situation, and wait in line again. I figure it all averages out because they also multi-charge for the same item sometimes, but receipt checking and checkout lines are just scare tactics... they don't really prevent you from walking out with something.

Can you say "rationalization"?

 

[DickArmAndHarT]

Paid Stickers??

I've bought lots of products from several different stores and the staff have always put a bright blue PAID sticker on my merchandise after checking out with the floor staff.

With that I never felt weird carrying unbagged merchandise out of the store.

 

[Tinmania]

I've bought lots of products from several different stores and the staff have always put a bright blue PAID sticker on my merchandise after checking out with the floor staff.

With that I never felt weird carrying unbagged merchandise out of the store.

I'm sure it would not be hard for someone to merely duplicate those stickers and have a field day.



Michael

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IIRC the 'service I used to enjoy in the old days' seemed to involve a lot of standing in queues waiting to pay for stuff. You can never cost-effectively employ 'enough' sales staff as one minute a store can have 50 customers in it, 5 minutes later there's only 20 in it.

Exactly.

I don't WANT to wait around for an Apple store associate when I know what I want and am only there to run in and get it. That is the area where the Apple store experience was not optimum at least for me: quick purchases. If someone was free to help it was fine. Everyone busy helping someone else? Not so good.

I will definitely use the new Apple store app to get in and out for the small stuff.



Michael

 

[alphaod]

I think I'm going to the store just to try this out.

I'm sure it would not be hard for someone to merely duplicate those stickers and have a field day.

Over what? A case that probably costs Apple $1 to buy from the manufacturer? Seriously they would check you if they saw you carrying like 5 cases out the door or you were holding a lot of hardware.

Clearly Apple have concluded that the benefit of ease of sale over the possibility that they lose like $10 in merchandise over thousands of dollars in sales.

 

[840quadra]

Not angry, just trying to get the attention of those who post the same question and comments but never read the responses

The semantics may be different, but I'm not convinced that increases the risk beyond possibly the psychological 'less likely to be caught' angle. At the end of the day, short of me drawing attention to myself by acting suspiciously, I'm confident I could walk into any busy Apple store now, pick up an item, walk round the store for another minute or so and then just walk straight out.

I think I understand your viewpoint and thanks for sharing it. I guess I was more focused on the customer side of things, than a potential criminal with nefarious intent.

In the past, as a customer, you could never simply walk into a store, pick something up, and pay for it without any human interaction.

It is the SAME:

As the stores in MN are concerned, you could always walk up to a shelf, pick up an item, and then simply walk out with the item without ever talking to someone. With the risk of being caught. The same as now except now you can scan it.

No it isn't, and please see my response above as to what I am discussing. I am not talking about the criminal angle here, to be clear.

 

[PDXoPDX]

Will be very interesting how they will tackle theft...

Same way they do now: a security guard here or there and the honor system. They've never had door alarms or RFID tags on floor merchandise.

This app changes nothing from a LP point of view, except that non-professional thieves know what the pros have known all along. I believe Gap and some other retailers are the same–assume positive intent and write off the rest!

 

[Tinmania]

I think I'm going to the store just to try this out.

Over what? A case that probably costs Apple $1 to buy from the manufacturer? Seriously they would check you if they saw you carrying like 5 cases out the door or you were holding a lot of hardware.

Clearly Apple have concluded that the benefit of ease of sale over the possibility that they lose like $10 in merchandise over thousands of dollars in sales.

What? This was about a different store. I have never had a paid sticker put on anything I bought at an Apple store.



Michael

 

[Trauma1]

Connecting to in-store wi-fi is actually required to complete the purchase.

False.

 

[hexonxonx]

False.

When I paid for my iPhone 4S today, the store rep demonstrated how it worked to me. You connect to the stores WiFi and that enables the in-store checkout system.

 

[Trauma1]

Pics.

 

[Trauma1]

You connect to the stores WiFi and that enables the in-store checkout system.

No. Proximity to a store enables the EasyPay system.

 

[sennekuyl]

Um, excuse me did you just make that up? Source please?



On a serious note, it's better for the community that people want sources than not, eh?

Nicely said.

 

[charlituna]

No iPod Touch as the iPod Touch has no cellular radios and thus no way to complete the purchase.

WiFi. Apple even set up an open network in all stores.

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So... If you are one of those people who perpetually have a balance (due to iTunes gift cards), will it use that up first? Or will it go straight to the credit card? Not sure I want it to pull my iTunes balance first.

Hmm...

Nope. Same ID but it is pulling from the store.apple.com side so you have to have a credit card on file. No iTunes cards can be used.

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I must have missed something. If you "check out" using you phone, how does the staff in the store know that you have paid for the item in your hand?

if you pay with a staff member for that iPhone case, have the receipt emailed and refuse a bag do they stop and make you prove you paid for it. No they don't. Even if you don't have the colored sticker.

They trust that enough of their customers will be honest to make the handful hat never were not really an issue

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I think this is going to take longer to work smoothly than Apple realizes.

Which is why it isn't worldwide. The US is the final test phase. Same with the whole pickup thing

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nope, it's probably a fraud prevention measure. if you buy it on the iphone then along with your credit card apple will also capture the phone number of the phone along with iMEI and other data. phone number is active and linked to a carrier.

nothing on wifi only devices will link you to an active account at a cell carrier

and Apple would deserve the massive suing they would get.

And no. They aren't recording your iPhone number etc.

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One question about personal pickup - how long do they keep the product in store for you after the 'available from' date?

I want to pickup a refurb iPad when in the states in a few weeks, and obviously it would take a few days (at least) for the iPad to get to a store.

They keep it like a month. And if you don't come for it the payment is returned etc

 

[Irock619]

No iPod Touch as the iPod Touch has no cellular radios and thus no way to complete the purchase.

You don't need cellular radios because all Apple stores have free wifi connection.

 

[revelated]

nope, it's probably a fraud prevention measure. if you buy it on the iphone then along with your credit card apple will also capture the phone number of the phone along with iMEI and other data. phone number is active and linked to a carrier.

nothing on wifi only devices will link you to an active account at a cell carrier

Nice theory. I've got a better one.

As has been observed, the iPads have also been excluded from this. So basically, only iPhones. Maybe...just MAYBE...this is designed to spur sales of the iPhone. Because let me tell you something. Despite what someone else said, I'd wager good money that the bulk of people going into the Apple Store to shop aren't going to use this. It's going to be the true fanboys who just want to do everything they think is "cool". All that said, there is no logical reason iPod Touch 4G or iPad 1/2 should not be able to take advantage of this. If their excuse is the quality of the camera in the devices, then that's a black mark on them for putting poor quality cameras in those devices in the first place.

Most of the people trafficking Apple Stores (A) are window shopping with no intention to buy anything, (B) are leeching off the free wi-fi, (C) are there for Genius Bar appointments, or (D) are buying items that aren't scannable, such as iMacs or MacBook Pros, where someone has to get it from the store room anyway. I would also wager that the people in category D are mostly not iPhone users.

 

[Cruzer442]

Assuming that there is more shrinkage I would think that they've weighed that against the time/cost savings in having blue shirt-ers checking out customers.

Plus the value of the "cool" factor is immeasurable. Having this feature adds to the Apple store experience doesn't it?

 

[Macopotamus]

Plus the value of the "cool" factor is immeasurable. Having this feature adds to the Apple store experience doesn't it?

It certainly does, I hope it combines with the "Express Lane" they set up in the Holidays so we can speed in and out with a new Mac or iPad without waiting in the line, those are the things that can take forever. Pre-ordering works well enough if you know what you want, not so much if you haven't made a decision yet (32GB vs 16GB, Wi-Fi vs 3G model, etc).

 

[Uln4321]

Easy pay is THE COOLEST thing ever!!! just tested it. it is so easy! walk in. pick up product. scan barcode. click buy. walk out. Took like 30 seconds! amazing!

 

[revelated]

It certainly does, I hope it combines with the "Express Lane" they set up in the Holidays so we can speed in and out with a new Mac or iPad without waiting in the line, those are the things that can take forever. Pre-ordering works well enough if you know what you want, not so much if you haven't made a decision yet (32GB vs 16GB, Wi-Fi vs 3G model, etc).

I swear, I wish I could find one of these stores so packed to the gills with paying customers that the Express Lane is a necessity due to demand.

I've seen the Express Lane and it's always empty. Yet there are tons of emo kids playing Farmville on every MacBook Pro/Air, moms who strand their kids at the iMacs to play games while they attempt to get service for a freshly-toileted-iPhone that doesn't work, and hipsters with manbags at the One-to-One tables. I bought the Cinema Display recently and got stares. As if it were totally unheard of that a person might buy an Apple monitor at an Apple Store.