Malcolm Owen
Apple is excelling at retail because it has different aims to other stores, retail chief Angela Ahrendts advised in an interview, with the company bucking the trend of store closures though "experiential retail" and providing education to the customer, rather than just selling merchandise.
Speaking at the former Carnegie Library in Washington, DC, Ahrendts advises Apple is "now opening fewer, larger stores so that you can get the full experience of everything that's Apple." The aim is to build long-term customer relationships in its stores, and it can only do so by showing as much as it can of its products and services to customers.
The philosophy continues what founder and CEO Steve Jobs envisioned for the company's stores, Ahrendts told Vogue Business. "Steve told the teams when he opened retail 18 years ago, 'Your job is not to sell, your job is to enrich their lives and always through the lens of education,'" Ahrendts noted.
The push towards providing a place to meet rather than to sell is important, according to the retail head, advising "I think as humans we still need gathering places, and when you are serving digital natives, the thing they long for more than anything is human connection. Eye contact."
Apple's offering of non-sales elements in its stores, its Today at Apple events that ranges from classes to concerts referred to as "experimental retail," is being adopted by others. Urban Outfitters is noted to have three "Space" stores where it hosts gigs and workshops, whole the Reel Mall in Shanghai offers carpentry and jewelry-making classes.
Ahrendts has seen these elements crop up elsewhere, highlighting efforts by Soho House and CitizenM with praise. "They have filled this huge niche, a combination of experience and human connection."
As a major retail presence around the world, Ahrendts advised of the use of technology to improve the retail experience. In stores, there are thousands of beacons used to connect with the Apple Store app on iPhones, welcoming customers while allowing for purchasing without going through the cash register"
"As we renovate every store we update all the technology," it is advised. "We don't want to be gimmicky, but stores need to become living, breathing spaces, not just two-dimensional boxes."
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80 Comments
Based on what I've seen in our local Apple store, I have to mostly agree with this article. This weekend, there was a Girl Scout troop playing some kind of group game, and the only Apple device even in use was a large screen hooked up to an iPad.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not so naive as to think that there wasn't some subliminal salesmanship going on there, but there wasn't even any attempt to say anything about the products themselves, just having fun with the girls. It was the salesmanship of simply using the products, not even talking about them at all.
I’d have used the word experiential retail. I wonder if Angela misspoke and then decided to just go with it.
I had an abysmal experience the last time in the Apple store. I had made an appointment a week in advance to pick up and activate my new Iphone XR, trading in a 6S. After an hour in the store, passed to 3 different reps, I left the store with a non-functioning iphone (though I didn't know this until after I left the store to go to dinner). I returned to another Apple store after dinner and they could not fix the problem, had to go to T-Mobile, where one of their reps replaced the sim and activated it properly. Follow up customer surveys and comments were not answered by Apple. And I am a long term Apple shareholder. Not sure what Angela does for her $70M, but I'd start with sending customers home with working products.
It is impressive that Apple stores, especially the flagship stores, have become tourist attractions. Whenever I travel I make it a point to visit one. In many instances they have repurposed old historic buildings incorporating historic elements with modern design. Grand Central Station, SoHo, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Waikiki, all unique in their own way yet the same Apple “feel”. Waiting for the 3rd iteration of Apple Fifth Ave NY to open. The stores provide a great opportunity to relax, people watch, take a class and learn something new about my devices and buy an accessory/product. Everytime I ask Siri via HomePod to turn on my lights or adjust the heat I rember my visit to Apple Park where I bought the HomePod. First discovered Voice Memos in a class at the Waikiki store and my hot pink watch band from Miami.
I get the story they're building around enriching lives through education but if it didn't lead to increase sales and upselling they wouldn't be carrying the additional salaries and overhead needed to support the initiative.