Tim Cook on New Retail Chief John Browett: 'The Best by Far'

[Laundry Bob]

The other candidates were probably the CEOs of Poundland and Lidl.

Classic. Here's an experience I had at Dixons: I was coming in to pay for a dishwasher I had been looking at earlier in the day. It was 5:45, the store closed at 6:00. A woman saw me coming in and beat me to the door, locked it, and turned around. I said, "I'm here to pay for a dishwasher." She said, "We're closed." I said, "What time do you close." "Now."

My overall experience with customer service in the UK was not good. I once had a waitress at the Birmingham Airport Hilton tell me that I couldn't have my steak medium-rare because the steaks all came "well-done" and a waitress at a Pizza Hut told me that they had run out of medium pizzas. The manager came over and apologized and said she couldn't find the medium button on the register.

To be fair, the Americans take it too far. "Have a nice day" may be fine once but from four different employees in one visit is overkill and has the opposite effect!

So hiring the head of Dixons to run Apple's retail division does sound like someone pulled the wool over Tim Cook's eyes. One has to assume he never went in to a Dixons store and is relying on intuition and references.

 

[Mustafa]

I think his strategy to combine PC World and Comet (one computer the other home appliance) was a very good one!

I think you'll find these two companies are completely unconnected.

 

[KPOM]

Funny....it was around 2007 that Tesco changed for the better. Before that they were loosing a huge marketshare to Asda/Walmart. After 2007 they started the agressive Tesco Local program.

So thats two large companies that under Browett, didn't do too well. Lets hope he'll either change for the better, or be booted out pretty quickly.

Browett was in charge of Tesco Online.

 

[adbe]

Funny....it was around 2007 that Tesco changed for the better. Before that they were loosing a huge marketshare to Asda/Walmart. After 2007 they started the agressive Tesco Local program.

Tescos pretty much went to hell after 2007[1] precisely because they were trying to compete with Asda. Tesco became the monster it is by upping its game in the 90s. When Tescos quit being dingy grocery stores, and switched to large, clean, well stocked, and aggressive hyper markets that's when they took off. The fact that they generally offered a superior experience to Sainsburys helped.

Asda, under WalMart decided to go fish the bottom of the lake, which will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with WalMart. It's not surprising Tescos lost market share, their problem was that they'd already cut mid-tier margins to the bone in an effort to sink Sainsburys, Waitrose, et-al.

Tesco were *******s to their suppliers, but WalMart is a whole different animal. In a money conscious economy, WalMart holds all the aces.

Re Dixons, as said above, tarring and feathering a guy for two decades of dismal DSG stores when he's only been there for the last four of those, is pretty unfair. Ignoring the fact that he was bought in to stop an implosion in a business that was already circling the drain, and just about to get slammed by the worst recession, and somehow pulled it off, is just flat out lazy thinking.

[1] I visit the UK once or twice a year. I'm well placed to be startled at the precipitous drop off on in quality at Tescos over the last 4 years or so. It's jarring when every visit is noticeably and measurably less pleasant than the last.

 

[babyj]

This thread makes me laugh.

Tim Cook, the man hand picked by Steve Jobs to run Apple, thinks he's the right man for the job. Dixons share price plummets on the news he is leaving. The press all describe him as a rising star in retail, some even going as far as to view him as a potential successor to Tim Cook.

Yet they are all totally wrong and some random posters who once went in a PC World store for five minutes a couple of years ago think they are a better judge of the man, that he will be useless and turn all the Apple stores in to Dixons or Tesco stores.

 

[MonkeySee....]

This thread makes me laugh.

Tim Cook, the man hand picked by Steve Jobs to run Apple, thinks he's the right man for the job. Dixons share price plummets on the news he is leaving. The press all describe him as a rising star in retail, some even going as far as to view him as a potential successor to Tim Cook.

Yet they are all totally wrong and some random posters who once went in a PC World store for five minutes a couple of years ago think they are a better judge of the man, that he will be useless and turn all the Apple stores in to Dixons or Tesco stores.

Well he doesn't sound like he's got a lot going for him.

 

[unlinked]

This thread makes me laugh.

Tim Cook, the man hand picked by Steve Jobs to run Apple, thinks he's the right man for the job. Dixons share price plummets on the news he is leaving. The press all describe him as a rising star in retail, some even going as far as to view him as a potential successor to Tim Cook.

The stock went down about 10% yesterday. The stock went down about 85% during the 4 years he was in charge.

 

[OXO]

I think you'll find these two companies are completely unconnected.

I think you will find that you are wrong.

 

[bartzilla]

Had Apple hired the CEO of Nordstrom or the CEO of John Lewis, I'm guessing people would be complaining that "what does a fashion retailer know about selling iPhones and iPads?"
.

Come to the UK. Pick a place with a John Lewis store and a nearby Dixons. Compare how both of them sell Apple equipment (hell, electronics in general) then come back if you can still repeat that post and keep a straight face.

I think you will find that you are wrong.

Mustafa has a point. I think you will find that yourself and DrFreeman are confusing Currys and Comet. Easy mistake to make, in fairness, but still... you know... wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixons_Retail_plc

 

[chrmjenkins]

You will also have noticed that I ignored it.

Not anymore.

 

[thedoctor]

I have been to a couple of them, but all my large purchases have been made via the web site, and the phone...I feel ( perhaps mistakenly ) that I get a better, more personal service that way.

I go in to a physical Apple store to touch and feel a new product and then if I want it, buy from the online Apple store with an up to 8% discount.

Browlett has an undoubted track record here

Meh .. how has Dixons Retail / DSGi improved in the last 5 years? Most of the time they appear to shuffle the deck chairs around. Look at their profit / loss rollercoster ... watch how their share price falls off a cliff in 2007 going from £179 to today's £13.

Neither Tesco nor Dixons are retail experiences I want to see at Apple.

 

[thedoctor]

Come to the UK. Pick a place with a John Lewis store and a nearby Dixons. Compare how both of them sell Apple equipment (hell, electronics in general) then come back if you can still repeat that post and keep a straight face.

Absolutely! John Lewis is a shining example of how to do retail in the UK and its a "mutual" owned by the employees. Look at its customer satisfaction and its profits (each 'owner' employee got an 18% bonus last year).

Next to Apple, John Lewis is a large Apple dealer and you get 2-year warranties for free from them (1 more than Apple).

Dixons/Currys/PC World/next-weeks-rebrand is a terrible retail experience .. Apple is the complete opposite.

I don't believe Apple has much to learn from someone steeped in Tesco and Dixons .. unless its how not to do things?

 

[mutantteenager]

I guess the new Apple fanlets will know what it feels like to be from the Apple old school. Soon they'll be moaning about how 'mainstream' the Applestores are, and how quality has been sacrificed over quantity. Oh the irony.

PS: Dixons is rubbish and this guy looks like a grade A c-word, expect bad things.

 

[macchiato2009]

seriously, i don't see how Browett will revolution Apple Retail


Ron Johnson already did so much in 10 years

unless the guy is smarter with greater ideas, which doesn't seem to be the case

it's not like his role with Dixons was a fantastic success...

 

[BanterClaus]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

The only experiences I have had with any dixons retail stores have been awful. I purchased a MacBook Pro 2011 from the PC World website when they were released and their courier lost it. They didn't inform me of this until I called asking what was going on. They then said they would send another. This also never arrived as they didn't even bother to dispatch it. After about a month of waiting I finally gave up went and bought one from the Apple store and then requested a refund. This was also a hassle and took many calls before they even agreed to do so.

Another dreadful experience was when I went with a family member went to purchase a PC. The guy clearly had no idea what he was talking about and I knew more about the matter than him. Upon trying to explain something better than he did he patronised me and basically didn't know what he was talking about again.

So I may have just been unlucky but my experience with them is absolutely terrible. I hope this isn't the kind of service this guy intends for Apple.

 

[kolax]

I think part of this is cultural between the US and UK. Customers in the US are more used to sales people approaching them. Even at a high end store like Nordstrom (known for its customer service) you will be greeted and "helped," though much less aggressively. When I lived in the UK, it took some getting used to. The first time I went to a department store looking to buy something, I stood around restlessly waiting for someone to appear. I almost wanted to wave my credit card around and shout "helloooo!" but then I finally saw and approached a sales person.

I think an American walking into a Dixons store would be far less put off than the posters from the UK here.

True, I've never been to the US, never mind shopped there. If the Dixons experience is what Americans are used to, you guys will either love John Lewis for the laid back honest service, or in your case, hate it because no one is rushing up to empty your wallet!

Thing is, us UK folk dislike the Dixons experience greatly (or, the American experience if that is what you guys are used to). Maybe we're being too harsh on John Browett. But us UK folk are just worried that he might end up making the Apple Store experience too "Dixons" like.

I just worry about walking into an Apple Store just to browse, and being bombarded with sales guys. Then, when I do finally make a purchase, I'll be told about AppleCare a hundred times and forced into taking it.

What if John Browett sales to Tim Cook: "Tim, AppleCare sales are pretty poor, and this is a big money. We should make the Apple Store employees sell these better, and to do this, we'll offer them incentives, such as money, for selling so many per month. But lets not stop there, add on sales are low. Lets keep reminding customers they'll need a printer at some point, they'll need this software, they'll need that software. And to really make the customer buy it, we'll give them a discount for buying a printer and a load of software they don't really need. We're going to make so much more money for Apple together, Tim."

 

[marcusj0015]

First off, why wasn't this with yesterdays announcment of promoting this guy?

secondly, why are we supposed to give a ****? he's the CEO, he clearly supported his promotion. and idgaf.

 

[Rab C]

As someone from the UK, I am a bit annoyed about all this Dixons / Tesco bashing and suggestion that John Browett is a bad choice because of it.

Tesco is a hugely successful supermarket chain and I have shopped in store and online for years without many problems.

As for PC World or similar stores, the average Macrumours forum poster is not usually going to shop there. Yes they probably don't know how many cores are in every PC in the store but if your router has just died and you need one in a hurry they are spot on, if more expensive quick fix.

A Dixon's employee will try to up sell you gold plated oxygen free cables for £100 or tell you that you need a £1000 PC to 'get the Internet' but I bet there are many similar store chains in the USA and elsewhere.

For convenience you can't beat Tesco or PC World and people who say otherwise are just coming across as techno snobs

 

[Rocketman]

The quote required an SIC edit. If true it may be off the cuff and not parsed through 3-12 PR channels.
I bet he was hired on "execution skills" not policy development.

 

[metsjetsfan]

How much does the retail head have over customer service outside the store, ie phone support, apple care, etc.

They always talk about how things are so specialized like the apple.com group in austin having no control over the images or even much advance knowledge of new products.

If he doesn't head up CS outside of the store may not be a big deal at all.

 

[threesixty360]

The guy will be running the stores from a very high level. There are very few people in the world with CEO experience who can make deals with suppliers, local government etc.. He's not there to implement a new Apple experience, he's there not to mess it up!

Apple stores a show rooms, not real shops in the sense that they are trying to sell you something. Apple's ad's and marketing presence do that. The no.1 reason for the Apple store was that people couldn't see an apple product working before. Retailers didn;t give Apple products much space and consumer couldn't be "wowed" by the product by actually touching it and seeing it work.

The Apple stores changed that. Its not a cut throat, low margin business like Dixon's. Its one big show room business.

 

[MatLane]

Has Tim been to a PC world or Currys in the UK?

It is known....especially in my area. Every PC world .....if they see you looking at the macs they always seem to come over and try and tell you that you dont want to spend that much money and then they take you over to a cheap boggy laptop with loads of extras. Me and a mate actually went in out store one evening to clean down the macs as there was rust, dust, dirt and grime building on the machines on the outside and in. They dont seem to even look after the apple area of the store. All they care about is selling things rubbish at bog standard prices.

Its what apple need to steer away from.......bottom line employees...who are only interested in bottom line sales and satisfaction. PC world = poundland of the computing retail world

----------

The guy will be running the stores from a very high level. There are very few people in the world with CEO experience who can make deals with suppliers, local government etc.. He's not there to implement a new Apple experience, he's there not to mess it up!

Apple stores a show rooms, not real shops in the sense that they are trying to sell you something. Apple's ad's and marketing presence do that. The no.1 reason for the Apple store was that people couldn't see an apple product working before. Retailers didn;t give Apple products much space and consumer couldn't be "wowed" by the product by actually touching it and seeing it work.

The Apple stores changed that. Its not a cut throat, low margin business like Dixon's. Its one big show room business.

I agree with your quote on the fact of the experience he has which indeed over runs the rest

 

[babyj]

There was an article in the Financial Times today which says one of the things that impressed Apple the most about Browett is the new shop layouts and designs that he has implemented, which apparently scored highly with their mystery shoppers (which I guess they send out to check out other retailers).

His customer orientated focus is the main reason that keeps coming up though.

Surprised me a bit - I wasn't that impressed by my local PC World when I went there recently (though there was a noticeable improvement). Doesn't seem to be any mention of him running retail operations in 25+ countries which you'd have thought would be experience they're looking for.

 

[leontief]

What if John Browett sales to Tim Cook: "Tim, AppleCare sales are pretty poor, and this is a big money. We should make the Apple Store employees sell these better, and to do this, we'll offer them incentives, such as money, for selling so many per month. But lets not stop there, add on sales are low. Lets keep reminding customers they'll need a printer at some point, they'll need this software, they'll need that software. And to really make the customer buy it, we'll give them a discount for buying a printer and a load of software they don't really need. We're going to make so much more money for Apple together, Tim."

But apple already does this, particularly in the last 3-4 years. Got to push the metrics, up sell the product and all that.

Or have you not noticed the behind the scenes push since you are so anxious to have that product in your hands?

 

[GollumBoy]

Message from a Dixons Employee

Message from a Dixons Employee

Hi, I am a Dixons employee and have been for the past 4 and a bit years.
I agree DSG used to have poor reputation and some of you have had bad experiences.
HOWEVER, I have worked in 3 different stores (2x PC World 1x Currys) my colleagues are great. Friendly and motivated. Wanting to do the best for the customer.
You talk about poor knowledge - how can you expect us to know 100% about 100% of the products we sell?! That's impossible.
What we do these days if we don't know - we ask someone who does!

There are a lot of training modules in place to learn new stuff which is relatively new - this will make a big difference in the next few months.

John as a CEO brought the new store formats which are great to shop in. I've worked in both non-refit and refit stores. The refit stores see much better satisfaction and selection of products.
The 2-in-1 stores have been a great success to merge the two Dixons brands together - why have 2 when you can have 1? Saves costs - better experience.

People in this thread have been saying that DSGi staff have been shying away from Macs, I didn't I often upsold customer from a PC to Mac just from being enthusiastic and showed how great they are. Customers loved it.