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It might be the case that she groups them by sales volume so they know what to focus on in each store. For example if Apple Regent Street sells mostly iPhones and iPads, then the marketing and layout will be tailored with these two products at the fore front, and moving the Macs etc to a secondary location.

Knowing these two popular products, they can then arrange accessories accordingly, have more staff that knows iPhone and iPad etc.

I certainly hope they don't try to take this to an extreme resulting in an inconsistent experience across Apple Store, which unfortunately is the case for me between Sydney and London. I'm wowed by the experience in Sydney but having been to Regent Street here 4 times to get something, not once have I walked out impressed at all.
 
If they really want to help customer experience. First stop hiring kids and start to hire adults. .

Or at least hire young adults that know what they are talking about and have actually used the devices. I wouldn't think it would be a hard screening process. If a candidate can't do simple things like opening apps or manipulating a keyboard, they don't need to be selling or offering advice on the product!
 
I just want her to streamline the whole store experience. Here's why I dislike going to Apple Stores and always try to avoid them:

-Crowded - almost impossible to move at peak times.
-Confusing - not clear who to talk to or where to go to get help or check out. You often get passed off two or three times to get what you need, or end up just standing around trying to catch someone's attention
-Time consuming - very hard to just get in and get out if you already know what you want
-Ignorant - if you're an enthusiast like most of the people on this site, the sales associates are almost painfully ignorant. The last one I talked to didn't know what an SSD was re: MBP hard drives
-Condescending - the flip side of the last one. They will treat you like a newbie even if you are long time customer and insist on explaining basic stuff to you at length.
-Too familiar/casual - last time I bought a MBP from an Apple store, spending well over $2000, they never said "thank you" or "have a nice day" or anything like that. Even when I first said I would like to purchase it, the response was an indifferent "ok". They are trying to be hip and casual, but it can come across as disrespectful and unappreciative.

I know lot of people feel the same way. Everyone I know groans when they have to visit the Apple Store for something. Arendt should focus on making the retail stores a positive experience again for both newcomer and fans alike.
 
NOT. GOOD.

and it begins. armchair retail executives...

The overall effect is to greatly dilute the value of the brand, since the company presents a different level of customer experience depending on location, all under that same brand name. And as a customer, it REALLY grates you to be presented a shabbier store in your locale, all by intent.

wow -- i somehow missed the part where she said she intends to have shabbier stores for the lower-volume regions. how could i have missed that?

Hey Ahrendts -

she doesnt read this site.

You want to create a different customer experience? Simple - start up "sidecar" brand names.... Want to target fashionistas? Call the brand "Candy Apple", and put THOSE stores where they make sense. A store that handles high-end AppleTV gear? "Golden Apple".

There - I'll give you that one, and if you implement it, just send me a fully loaded Mac Pro...

oh god, youre serious, arent you? you actually think that would be a good idea...shudder.

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Are you a former lover? I just wonder how you can have faith in somebody you don't know.

i wonder the same about popular world deities, but millions of the faithful seem to think they can...
 
All these armchair retail experts here are so amusing. Why don't you send your resumes to Apple. Maybe Angela will hire you and then you can poke holes in all her plans.
 
Hmm

Has burberry been doing well?
It has always been a bit of a mediocre brand in my view as a customer.
Its only recognizable checkered design looks gaudy and not luxurious in any way.

I suppose it's a bit of an aspirational product for middle class?
I never understood the appeal.
 
NOT. GOOD.

I've been through this in Michigan, with Macys. Live in a predominantly wealthy area? You get presented with one kind of Macys. Live in an area with a range of incomes? You get presented with an entirely different kind of Macys, unkempt and not stocking the products one would expect out of "Macys".

The overall effect is to greatly dilute the value of the brand, since the company presents a different level of customer experience depending on location, all under that same brand name. And as a customer, it REALLY grates you to be presented a shabbier store in your locale, all by intent.

Like I said: NOT. GOOD.

Hey Ahrendts - You want to create a different customer experience? Simple - start up "sidecar" brand names.... Want to target fashionistas? Call the brand "Candy Apple", and put THOSE stores where they make sense. A store that handles high-end AppleTV gear? "Golden Apple".

There - I'll give you that one, and if you implement it, just send me a fully loaded Mac Pro...

What? So if you walk into a store in a small city you expect to see that Apple store carry $600 retail software that hasn't sold more than 2 copies in 6 months?

Grouping by regions has never been successful. It's better to follow trends of a specific volume and demographic. Maybe the NYC store doesn't sell $20 iPhone cases but $40 ones instead.

She's trying to reorganize the stores based on what they sell and how much of it. Apple will still have on display and inventory all the Macs and iDevices. The amount on display and the specs of each will be determined by the sales volumes.

Regarding your Macy's example - the stores in the midwest may carry more plaid shirts vs nyc that may carry more solid and stripes. Why would Macy's in NYC carry plaid if it doesn't sell?
 
Regarding your Macy's example - the stores in the midwest may carry more plaid shirts vs nyc that may carry more solid and stripes. Why would Macy's in NYC carry plaid if it doesn't sell?

The point I made was to managing stores differently depending on demographic.

My example was regarding the different experience in shopping in a Macys in Flint Township, MI (where there is a mix of high and low incomes) vs. shopping at Macys in Troy, MI, an hour down the road (where income is consistently high).

Rather than keep Macys consistent, but perhaps larger or smaller depending on sales volumes seen, Macys varies the quality level, but keeps the store sizes the same. The end result is that you don't know if Macys is a mid-to-low store or a mid-to-high store.

The practical reality is that when I do shopping, I'll make the trip down to Troy... ...and go to the Nordstroms store there. I _know_ what I'll find at Nordstroms. When I need to buy a simple pair of jeans, I'll go to Target, anywhere. I _know_ what I'll find at Target. Is my point understandable, now?
 
not so fast my friend

NOT. GOOD.

I've been through this in Michigan, with Macys. Live in a predominantly wealthy area? You get presented with one kind of Macys. Live in an area with a range of incomes? You get presented with an entirely different kind of Macys, unkempt and not stocking the products one would expect out of "Macys".

The overall effect is to greatly dilute the value of the brand, since the company presents a different level of customer experience depending on location, all under that same brand name. And as a customer, it REALLY grates you to be presented a shabbier store in your locale, all by intent.

you're missing the point. Here's the problem with your assertion, Macy's sells many different products at each store... which you've stated. But you are overlooking that Apple sells every line of product at each store. Apple isn't going to just sell 5C's at one store and not 5S's cause of demographics and customers.
 
Why can't more people be just like me and avoid the brick & mortar retail store and make their Apple purchases online at store.apple.com? That way, people can skip the hassle of dealing with other people when it comes to making purchases and they can actually get what they want, even with BTO options.

Don't get me wrong, I think the brick & mortar store is great for seeing the product but the buying experience isn't all too great.

Just a thought....
 
instead grouping stores based on sales volume and customer demographics.In a letter sent to retail employees earlier this month, Ahrendts said she plans to "focus on and evolve the customer journey online and in our stores." She wants customers to "feel surprised and delighted" by a personalized Apple experience.

As opposed to stalked and monitored. Good luck with that.

And for what its worth I like that the stores are all the same. I don't want to walk in and look confused and lost so I stick out and can be swooped upon by eagle eyed geniuses. But I guess that will be taken care of by Bluetooth tracking and monitoring and will guide me to the goods apple has deemed I should buy.
 
Wow lots of words in that 9to5Mac article to basically tell us that Ahrendts is going to reorganize retail leadership based on sales volume instead of region.

I hope that's just the upper level. Otherwise I feel sorry for the folks at the district level. They could be traveling all over the place to spend time at their stores.

now if it was done in a combo of geographic and volume I could see it. Take like here in the LA/Orange County area. I bet there are easily 3 districts cause of all the stores. It's not a crazy geographic area (not like sending someone from San Diego to LA to San Fran or similar). So instead pure geographic area they might have District one being Santa Monica, The Grove, The Americana and Newport Beach as 'high volume' and break down the rest in a similar way). Reporting to Regionals set up in a similar way, then to a Corp Leader who only deals in 'high volume' stores.

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I've been through this in Michigan, with Macys. Live in a predominantly wealthy area? You get presented with one kind of Macys. Live in an area with a range of incomes? You get presented with an entirely different kind of Macys, unkempt and not stocking the products one would expect out of "Macys".

Or not because that's not what she's going for.

Higher Volume stores have different needs in staffing, supplies etc. That could be the only reason for separating by volume. To make sure that the formulas expand appropriately.

Hey Ahrendts - You want to create a different customer experience? Simple - start up "sidecar" brand names.... Want to target fashionistas? Call the brand "Candy Apple", and put THOSE stores where they make sense. A store that handles high-end AppleTV gear? "Golden Apple"..

That's a hideous idea.

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I have the sense this means she may move product from back of house towards the front, i.e. Mac and iOS accessories, as this is what brings more people into the store and usually causes more crowding around the Genius bar.

That's one possible thought. Minor adjustments in the floor plan to accommodate the actual traffic patterns, rather than trying to adjust the patterns to fit the layout.

Another reason for viewing based on volume might be to make sure that stores are the right size for their volume. There's a store near me that has been open for like 8 years with never a change in size (mall store) and yet the volume of customers is way more than it was even a year ago. They need a bigger store. They basically keep the mall open outside of the holidays and major weekends. Organizing by volume might also include looking at how the volume is achieved. Is it tons of way high priced sales like tons of Mac Pros and full priced phones, top line iPads etc. Or hundreds of smaller sales creating traffic issues in a tiny store.

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I don't know why, but I am not sure she was a good choice.

This comment reminds me of all the folks that **** on the next whatever based on an unsubstantiated rumor of what it might be like

how about you wait until she actually does something before you call her crap or even possible crap
 
ahrendtsheadshot-250x350.jpg


There's something about her eyes...I feel myself being drawn in... O.O
 
Here's what i've encountered at an Apple store several times:

1. Too many people made it very hard to move around. For some reason Apple doesn't think they should have a store capacity limit. It's like Black Friday x2 in there most of the time.

2. Very confusing: I've went in there several times and I'll go in with an Issue but most of the time I would sign in and then I'd be passed to a few people before speaking to someone at the Genius Bar.
 
…But, if you have a store that say sells a lot of Macbook Pros, then they may start keeping more different variations (HDD, Memory, etc) in stock than they do now, possibly keeping an eye on the BTO's that are delivered to the store.

Or a store that sells a lot of Mac Pros has staff who actually know a thing or two about, say, video and who know what GPUs are beyond a tech spec item to blurt out at sales time.

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All these armchair retail experts here are so amusing. Why don't you send your resumes to Apple. Maybe Angela will hire you and then you can poke holes in all her plans.

Well her predecessor didn't fare too well did he :)
 
Rather than keep Macys consistent, but perhaps larger or smaller depending on sales volumes seen, Macys varies the quality level, but keeps the store sizes the same.

Of course. They stock the stores with the products that of the most customers in the area actually buy. They have tons of sales statistics and data analytics to back that up.

If they don't have lots of floor space wasted on fancy overpriced merchandise in some town, it means the people who shop in that area are smart enough not to buy it. If they have $899 scarves & shoes (etc.) in another region, it means that there are people in that area who have wads of cash to simply burn and can overpay silly amounts to keep up with the Jone$e$. Thus the stores look nicer with this overpriced museum showcase garbage.

You want it the opposite?
 
NOT. GOOD.

I've been through this in Michigan, with Macys. Live in a predominantly wealthy area? You get presented with one kind of Macys. Live in an area with a range of incomes? You get presented with an entirely different kind of Macys, unkempt and not stocking the products one would expect out of "Macys".

Macys stores are primarily driven by their customers. They provide what their clientele buys. They charge what their clientele will pay. They pay their workers based on how much they can afford.

Apple stores have a fixed product line, fixed prices, fixed layout & design, etc. THIS IS GOOD!

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Simply EVERYTHING is done to maximise profit. Will this revamping be an improvement for customers? Highly unlikely.

Say what? Do you really think that customer satisfaction doesn't play the most important roll in making a profit? Oh dear! Unsatisfied customers don't buy!

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She looks extremely manly.

I think she's very attractive.

BTW, How do you look? Post your picture so we can all criticize you.
 
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