Apple to Eliminate Several Business and Event-Related Retail Positions

[MacRumors]

Apple is planning another shakeup within its retail stores, according to a source who shared the company's plans with MacRumors. At the end of April, Apple plans to eliminate certain retail positions, including Business Manager, Business Events Lead, Events Coordinator, and Events Lead.

Apple Store Leaders began informing affected employees about the change earlier this week, and many were caught off guard by the sudden sunsetting of specialized positions that have long existed at retail stores.

Our source says that the elimination of the Business Manager position is something of a shock because Business Managers lead the Business Team and are responsible for bringing in up to 20 percent of overall store sales.

"These managers have established relationships with various small and medium businesses in their markets," said the source. "Their position is highly specialized and often times not easily understood by retail leadership who do not have experience in B2B sales." Existing managers, senior managers, store leaders, and market leaders are currently unfamiliar with the "complex sales cycles involved with B2B engagements," so Apple's retail change could have a significant impact on business sales.

Employees who currently hold positions that are being eliminated have been told they can take a lower level (also lower paying in many cases) position or take two months of severance pay. "This comes as a rude awakening to employees who have always felt Apple has had their best interest," said the source.

Managers and affected employees have been notified about the imminent change, with a broader announcement planned for an all-hands meeting that will take place on Sunday, April 23. Apple may share more information on the reasoning behind the elimination of the positions and its future retail plans at that time. On its "Jobs at Apple" page, Apple has already removed "Business Manager," as an option, a change that was made recently.

The sunsetting of these specialized retail positions comes following some major retail changes that were introduced in mid-2016. Three new retail positions were added, including Pro, Creative Pro, and Technical Expert, and several other positions were renamed.

Article Link: Apple to Eliminate Several Business and Event-Related Retail Positions

 

[jdillings]

Another great move by Angela! Killing the Apple Store little by little.

 

[Born Again]

Nothing new here.

Profits come first. People second. Watch bands 3rd.

 

[LordQ]

What's happening to this company?

 

[fhall1]

For the money she's making I hope this move was exhaustively studied to see long term effects (it sure should have been), and not just something done to prop up the bottom line in the short term. Apple doesn't need it being propped up.

 

[44267547]

Another great move by Angela!

Knee Jerk comment against Angela Ahrendts without having any evidence supporting this. This easily could have been a joint or collaborative effort amongst other Apple executives to consolidate the positions.

Although, the eliminating of positions does make me wonder and now with the Genius training in Cupertino being reportedly axed, it provokes thought of Apple's latest moves and their backlash behind the motives.

 

[69650]

What a stupid move to kill off the Business Manager position.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

While creating jobs overseas.

 

[zhang96]

Nothing new here.

Profits come first. People second. Watch bands 3rd.

...
Trash on Campus 1041st,
...
Office window is not clean 1902nd
...
Mac Pro 1023953rd.
.....
Mac Mini, oh, Mac Mini is still around?

 

[radioisotope]

Trying to fix something that isn't broken?

 

[dominiongamma]

Angela just wants more money, she has been bad for Apple since day 1!

 

[miniyou64]

Nothing new here.

Profits come first. People second. Watch bands 3rd.

Businesses exist to make profits. If they can't make a profit then they won't exist. Then the company won't be employing any people.

 

[macguru212]

Just love the way Apple throws an all hands meeting out there on a fricking Sunday.

This company is soulless now.

 

[needsomecoffee]

Hello Staff: This is Angela. We are terminating Business Managers. Affected individuals will be considered for soon to be announced Fashionista Manager position. Preference given to those who can best optimize watch-band color to specific runway events. Anyone who has sold > 1 Edition Watches and/or knows a Kardashian is top of the list. Best, A.

 

[orgulle]

Does anyone have a first hand experience as an Apple store Business Manager? I'd love to hear the take on this from someone with experience in this position

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Knee Jerk comment against Angela Ahrendts without having any evidence supporting this. This easily could have been a joint or collaborative effort amongst other Apple executives to consolidate the positions.

Although, the eliminating of positions does make me wonder and now with the Genius training in Cupertino being reportedly axed, it provokes thought of Apple's latest moves and the backlash behind the motives.

If Apple gets rid of after sales support and repair from their stores, what makes them diffeeent from any other store?

When I was a kid, Savitt Jewelers always talked about POMG, peace of mind guarantee. Apple's no hassle service and support is a big reason why I buy Apple products. If Apple gets rid of their POMG, they get rid of me too.

 

[robbyx]

Yet another sign of the Mac's days being numbered.

 

[konqerror]

What kind of business has time to go to a store to buy computers? Clearly, this position is important, since Dell and HP have stores...

 

[69Mustang]

Sunsetting...

Corporate speak never ceases to amaze me... and by amaze me I mean severely disappoint. People are being let go, unemployed, not sent vacationing in Hawaii.

 

[britboyj]

Their position is highly specialized and often times not easily understood by retail leadership who do not have experience in B2B sales.

HA!

I worked at Apple Retail for 2 years, including on the business team, and every business manager I met was deluding themselves. People shopping at Apple Retail stores for their business ARE NOT B2B customers, and every business manager I saw get promoted to corporate crashed and burned in no time at all.

There's A LITTLE extra expertise about taxes and such, but they were all vastly overpaid for what they actually did. They weren't doing cold calls, the business just walked in. You could train a specialist to do the majority of their work in an afternoon.

 

[69Mustang]

What kind of business has time to go to a store to buy computers? Clearly, this position is important, since Dell and HP have stores...

Are you a member of the management team referenced in the article? The team that doesn't understand B2B sales.

 

[Dwalls90]

More evidence of Apple exiting the pro and business arena.

 

[britboyj]

Are you a member of the management team referenced in the article? The team that doesn't understand B2B sales.

Apple has a very strong and successful B2B team based out of California and Austin, TX. People who walk into a store to buy products are not B2B customers, regardless of what the over-important retail business team would like to think.

 

[konqerror]

Are you a member of the management team referenced in the article? The team that doesn't understand B2B sales.

No but I've purchased $50k of Dell servers in one go. A few months ago, we picked up 4 Dell workstations at once. All done over the phone and e-mail. I worked for a very large organization and met our dedicated Apple rep once who worked in Cupertino. What's your B2B purchasing experience?

 

[Johnny907]

Businesses exist to make profits. If they can't make a profit then they won't exist. Then the company won't be employing any people.

FTA:

BusinessManagers lead the Business Team and are responsible for bringing in up to 20 percent of overall store sales.

So you don't consider 1/5th of total revenue earned from the retail division to be "profitable?"