Apple Store is a chain of retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc. The stores sell Mac personal computers, iPhone smartphones, iPad tablet computers, iPod portable media players, Apple Watch smart watches, Apple TV digital media players, software and select third-party accessories.
The first Apple store was originally opened as two sites in May 2001 by past CEO Steve Jobs, after years of trying but failing to keep the store-in-store concept. Looking at the need to improve the retail presentation of the company's products, he began an effort in 1997 to change the retail program to get better relationships with consumers, and employ Ron Johnson in 2000. Jobs relaunched Apple's online store in 1997, and opened its first two physical stores in 2001. Despite initial media speculation that Apple will fail, its stores are very successful, by passing the nearest competitive store sales figures and within three years reaching US $ 1 billion in annual sales, becoming the fastest retailer in history. to do it. Over the years, Apple has expanded its number of retail locations and geographic coverage, with 499 stores in 22 countries worldwide in December 2017. Strong product sales have put Apple among the top retail stores, with sales of more than $ 16 billion globally in 2011.
In May 2016, Angela Ahrendts, Apple's current Senior Vice President of Retail, unveiled a significantly redesigned Apples Shop in Union Square, San Francisco, featuring large glass doors for entry, open space and branded rooms. In addition to purchasing products, consumers can get advice and assistance from "Creative Pros" - individuals with special knowledge of creative arts; get product support in the tree-bound Genius Grove; and attending sessions, conferences and community events, with Ahrendts commenting that the goal is to make Apple Stores a "city square", a place where people naturally meet and spend time. The new design will be applied to all Apple Stores around the world, a process that has seen shops temporarily moved or closed.
Many Apple Stores are located within a shopping mall, but Apple has built some stand-alone "flagship" stores in high-profile locations. It has been awarded a design patent and received an architectural award for the design and construction of its store, especially for the use of glass and cube steps. The success of Apple Stores has a significant influence on other consumer electronics retailers, who lose traffic, control, and profits due to the higher quality of services and products perceived at Apple Stores. Apple's well-known brand loyalty causes long lines of hundreds of people in new Apple Store openings or product releases. Due to brand popularity, Apple received many job applications, many of which came from young workers. Although Apple Store employees receive above-average salaries, are offered money for education and health care, and receive product discounts, there are limited or no career paths. The May 2016 report with an anonymous retail employee highlights a hostile work environment with customer harassment, intense internal criticism, and a lack of significant bonuses to secure key business contracts.
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Description
Many Apple Stores are located within a shopping mall, but Apple has built some stand-alone "flagship" stores in high-profile locations. Some multi-storey stores feature glass stairs, and some are also glass bridges. The New York Times wrote in 2011 that this feature is part of the widespread attention of CEO Steve Jobs's past to the details, and Apple received a design patent in 2002 for the design of the glass staircase. Historically, Apple has partnered with Bohlin Cywinski Jackson architecture firm to design and create its original retail store, and in recent years partnered with architectural firm Foster Partners in designing its new stores, as well as the company's Apple Park campus.
Apple has received numerous architectural awards for its store design, and the "iconic" glass cube, designed in part by Peter Bohlin, at Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York City, received a separate design patent in 2014.
Ron Johnson served as Senior Vice President of Retail Operations from 2001 to November 1, 2011. During his tenure, it was reported that Johnson was responsible for site selection, store service, and store layout, inventory controlled at the time. -COO and now-CEO Tim Cook, who has a background in supply chain management. In January 2012, Apple shifted its retail leadership to John Browett. However, after efforts to cut costs, including reducing new employees and limiting staff hours, he was fired after six months, then told the conference that he "just did not fit their way of doing business". In October 2013, Apple hired Angela Ahrendts from Burberry.
Work environment
Due to the popularity of the brand, job applicants at Apple Stores are numerous, with many young workers applying. High rate of work due to popularity of iPhone and iPad. Employees typically work for only a few years because of limited career prospects with no advancements other than limited retail management slots. The Apple Store employees pay above average for retail employees and are offered money for college tuition, gym membership, health care, 401 (k) plans, product discounts, and price reductions for stock purchases. Retention rate for technicians who manage Genius more than 90%.
A May 2016 Business Insider article features a lengthy interview with an anonymous Apple Store retail worker in the UK, where employees highlight significant discontent and problems for retail workers, including harassment and death threats from customers, an internal criticism policy strong "tastes like a cult", a significant lack of bonuses if a worker manages to secure a business contract worth "hundreds of thousands", a lack of promotional opportunities, and, while a "generous" discount on any Apple Product or Apple stock is paid so little many workers can not buy the product itself. Maps Apple Store
Country/Region with Apple Stores
History
Third-party retail
Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, returned as interim CEO in 1997. According to Jobs biographer, Walter Isaacson, Jobs began an integrated campaign to help sales by improving the retail presentation of Macintosh computers. Even with new products being launched under Jobs's supervision, such as the iMac and PowerBook G3 and online stores, Apple still relies heavily on large computer and electronic box stores for most of their sales. There, customers continue to deal with poorly trained and unkempt Mac parts that do not encourage customer loyalty to Apple and do not help distinguish the Mac user experience from Windows. In fact, the trend of retailers is to sell their own in-house brand PCs that use cheaper components than those by major PC makers, increasing the overall margins of retailers by keeping manufacturing profits. This "provides a strong profit motive for turning customers interested in buying a Mac into a new and inexpensive home brand PC owner."
Tim Cook, who joined Apple in 1998 as Senior Vice President for Worldwide Operations, announces that the company will "cut some channel partners who may not provide the buying experience [Apple expects] We are not happy with everyone." Jobs broke Apple's relationship with every major box retailer, including Sears, Best Buy, Circuit City, Computer City, and Office Max to focus their retail efforts with CompUSA. Between 1997 and 2000, the number of authorized Mac resellers dropped from 20,000 to just 11,000. The majority of these are pieces made by Apple itself. Jobs proclaimed that Apple would target Dell, with Cook's mandate to match or exceed Dell's lean inventory and lean supply chain, "with our new product and store and our new build-to-order, we come after you, mate." Although Dell has operated as a direct mail order and online ordering company, after withdrawing from retailers to realize greater profits and efficiencies, Apple has direct orders with sales handled by its channel partners, other mail order retailers, independent dealers, and new ones. relationship with CompUSA to build "in-store stores".
Jobs conducted a study for a stand-alone store "store" for 34 sites in Japan. These sites are designed by Eight Inc. who designed Apple MacWorld and product launch events with Apple. CompUSA is one of the few retailers who retain Apple's contract by agreeing to adopt Apple's "shop-in-store" concept designed by Eight Inc. This requires that about 15% of each CompusA store be set aside for Mac hardware and software (including non-Apple products) and will host the part-time Apple seller. But the "shop-in-store" approach did not live up to expectations, partly because Apple's part was in the lowest traffic area of ​​the CompusA stores. President of CompUSA Jim Halpin, who stated that he would make Apple's product a top priority, was forced to resign a year later. Also CompUSA has difficulty finding well-trained staff, as most shopkeepers usually steer customers away from the Mac and into a Windows PC. Despite this setback, CompusA's sales of Macs have increased. Apple later added Best Buy as the second official retailer. Challenges remain, because the retailers' profit margins for selling Macs are only about 9%, and selling Macs is only useful if ongoing contractual services and ongoing contracts are provided, where retailers experience is inconsistent.
Online store
In 1997, the year Steve Jobs returned to Apple, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell was asked how he would fix Apple. Dell replied: "I will close it and return the money to shareholders". This made Jobs mad, because Dell's success with its online store originally built by NeXT, Jobs's business that Apple bought to restore Jobs. A team of Apple and NeXT employees spent several months building an online store that would be better than Dell's. On November 10, 1997, Steve Jobs announced an online store at Apple's press event, and during his keynote speech he said: "I think what we want to say to you, Michael, is that with our new products and our new store and our new build-to-order manufacturing, we come after you, my friend. "
In August 2015, Apple updated the online storefront, deleted the special "Store" tab and made the entire website a retail experience.
Origins
Jobs believes that Apple's retail program is needed to fundamentally change relationships to customers, and provide greater control over the presentation of Apple products and Apple brand messages. Jobs acknowledged the limitations of third-party retailers and began to investigate options to change the model.
In 1999, Jobs personally recruited Millard Drexler, former CEO of Gap Inc., to serve on Apple's board of directors. In 2000, Jobs hired Ron Johnson from Target. The retail and development team led by Allen Moyer of The Walt Disney Company then started a series of mock-ups for the Apple Store in a warehouse near Cupertino headquarters.
On May 15, 2001, Jobs held a press event at Apple's first store, located at the Tysons Corner Center mall in Tysons, Virginia near Washington, DC. The store officially opened on May 19, along with another store in Glendale Galleria in Glendale, California. More than 7,700 people visited Apple's first two stores on the opening weekend, spending a total of US $ 599,000.
Expansion
Some publications and analysts predict the failure of Apple Stores. However, Apple's retail program sets its lead, passing the measurement of sales per square foot from the closest competing stores, and in 2004 to $ 1 billion in annual sales, the fastest of any retailer in history. Sales continued to grow, reaching $ 1 billion per quarter in 2006. Then-CEO Steve Jobs said that "People have not been willing to invest much time and money or engineering in a store before," adding that "It's not important if customers know it They just feel it, they feel something a little different. "In 2011, Apple Stores in the United States had an average income of $ 473,000 for each employee. According to research firm RetailSails, the Apple Store chain ranked first among US retailers in terms of sales per unit area in 2011, almost doubling Tiffany, the second retailer on the list. At the global level, all Apple Stores have combined revenues of US $ 16 billion. Under the leadership of Ron Johnson, former Senior Vice President of Retail Operations, Apple Stores, according to an article in The New York Times, is responsible for "[transforming] boring computer sales floor into a lean full playroom with gadget ". Apple Stores has also been credited with improving the company's brand equity, with Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business, stating that Stores is a "shrine for a brand that is an awesome experience called the Apple Store. this incredible experience called AT & amp; T or Verizon connects your mobile experience to Samsung and other Android players ".
Apple has since reestablished relationships with big box retailers such as Best Buy and Staples. The official Apple retailer has a dedicated store-in-store section, offering a distinctive Apple-style experience to showcase products. Relationships with Best Buy require companies to send Apple Solutions Consultants (ASCs) to train Best Buy employees to familiarize themselves with Apple's product lineup.
Changes
In May 2011, Apple replaced their paper cards and displayed information placed next to the product with an iPad 2 interactive display, called "Smart Signs". The new look adds more information about the product, and lets the customer press a button to signal the necessary help. The transition from paper to touchscreen is dubbed "Apple Store 2.0" by some online blogs.
In November 2011, Apple updated the iOS app "Apple Store" to allow US customers to use the "EasyPay" feature to purchase products through their iPhone. This feature, which allows users to choose the specific product model they want and gives users the option to take products at the Apple Store closest to the product in stock, aims to simplify and speed up spending. If not immediately available, this feature gives users an estimated retrieval time. While inside the Apple Store, customers can also scan product barcodes to find technical specifications, ratings, and reviews.
In November 2013, 9to5Mac reported that Apple would start using location-based notification technology "iBeacon". The iBeacon function, within the iOS app "Apple Store", lets consumers in Apple Stores receive useful notifications about products, prices, and features, in an effort to improve the shopping experience. Officially confirmed by Associated Press the following month, this feature was launched at all Apple retail stores in the United States.
In May 2014, Apple Store employees started using the iPhone 5S for their handheld payments portal, rather than previous iPod Touch devices. This upgrade allows customers to purchase products with RFID tags, support credit card chips and PIN entries, and offer increased support for scanning iOS Wallet apps.
In August 2015, Apple Stores replaces Smart Signs that are displayed next to the product, by installing the product itself with an application running demos and product information.
In early April 2016, as part of an initiative to become more environmentally friendly, Apple emailed Apple Stores employees that they would begin the transition process with their shopping bags, moving away from plastic bags that customers get when they buy products in stores, and switched to a paper bag with 80% recycled materials, with the company expecting the transition to take place on April 15. In an email, Apple also writes that employees should first ask customers whether they want a bag, rather than giving them one without asking.
In August 2016, Apple announced that it would remove the "Store" branding when referring to individual store locations, such as changing "Apple Store, The Grove" to "Apple The Grove" and "Apple Store, Mayfair" to "Apple Mayfair". The main areas of change take place on the Apple website and the store page.
In July 2017, Apple added a "smart home experience" to its 46 retail stores, allowing visitors to use Apple devices to control smart home appliances in stores such as light bulbs and ceiling fans, while the display offers a view within the user's virtual home can control, such as decreasing the feel of windows.
Influence
The Apple store has changed the landscape for consumer electronics retailers and influenced other technology companies to keep up with it. According to The Globe and Mail , "Apple's retail stores have picked up the traffic, controls and advantages of Verizon as well as electronics retailers, such as Best Buy, who have seen wireless phones as a lucrative source of profits." CNET has reported that "Apple's retail experience hurts Best Buy" and noted "Buy a MacBook on the Apple Store and find it hard to get back into the best Windows Buy laptop purchase experience." The publication also wrote that "Apple salespeople are generally more knowledgeable, their own products are generally of higher quality, and the stores are more attractive, aesthetically and practically."
In October 2009, reports emerged that Steve Jobs and his retail team would help "drastically overhaul" the Disney Store. Jobs' involvement was described by The New York Times as "very important", giving Jobs jobs to the "very successful Apple Store" and his election to Disney's board of directors in 2006.
In August 2009, the London Evening Standard reported that Apple's first store in the UK, on ​​Regent Street, was the most profitable store of its size in London, with the highest sales per square foot, taking Ã, Â £ 60 million per year, or Ã, Â £ 2,000 per square foot.
Redesign
In May 2016, Apple significantly redesigned the Union Square Apple Store in downtown San Francisco, adding large glass doors for entry, open space with touch-sensitive tables and shelves for product displays, and rebranding rooms for stores. "The Avenue" is a central location for hardware, as well as to receive suggestions from sellers and "Creative Pros" - individuals with specific knowledge about music, creativity, applications, and photography. The "Genius Bar" becomes "Genius Grove", an area surrounded by trees for help and support. "The Forum" features a large video screen and offers game nights, sessions with experts in creative arts, and community events. The "Meeting Room" allows developers and entrepreneurs aspiring to learn how to use their products to the fullest. "The Plaza", while confined to a specific location, offers a "park-like" space outside the store that features 24/7 free Wi-Fi access and will hold live concerts on weekends. Designed by Jony Ive and Angela Ahrendts, the idea is to make Apple Stores a "city square", where people come naturally to the store as a gathering place, and to "help foster a human experience that draws people out of a digital bubble them ". The new design will be adopted into every Apple-owned store, and when renovations are underway, stores are relocated or temporarily closed. For some locations, including Fifth Avenue's flagship store in New York City, redesign means a substantial space expansion, requiring demolition, and possibly rework, of its physical properties.
In April 2017, Apple announced that the "Today at Apple" edition of education, which was launched with a redesign of Union Square in 2016 and offers over 60 free hands-on sessions for creative skills, will also be extended to all of its stores.
Genius Bar
All Apple Stores display Genius Bar, where customers can receive technical advice or set up services and fixes for their products. The Genius Bar provides software support for macOS and hardware services on products that are not classified or obsolete. However, in most cases, Genius will at least try to help customers with older hardware. Initially, visitors to Genius Bar were offered free Evian water. Apple dropped this ease in February 2002.
In May 2017, Apple launched a new program called "Today At Apple." Customers can come and receive free training from "Creative" in over 60 different sessions. Topics include basic device knowledge, Apple professional film and music editing software, encoding for children, and tools for using Apple products in classroom based learning.
The world's largest Genius Bar is located in Amsterdam.
Saving openings
Aperture Apple Store and new product releases can attract a crowd of hundreds, with several queuing as many as the day before the opening. The opening of New Fifth Avenue's "Cube" store in New York City in 2006 became a marriage proposal setting, and had visitors from Europe flying for the event. In June 2017, a newlywed couple took their wedding photos inside the newly opened Orchard Road Apple Store in Singapore.
Theft
The Apple store has experienced many robberies. The famous incidents included two robberies in February-March 2016 in which thieves stole a combined number of 67 iPhones with a combined sum of more than $ 49,300, an event in June 2016 in which a thief dressed as an Apple Store employee gained access to an electronic repair room and grabbed 19 iPhone worth $ 16,130, the November 2016 incident in which Apple Store was robbed of $ 40,000 worth of items and then attacked again in April 2017 for $ 24,000 worth of goods, a quick December 2016 robbery that took 12 seconds to complete, and another December 2016 attack where many people drive to the store through the front windshield and start stealing a bunch of unspecified items.
The devices on display at the store come with a special demo version of their respective operating systems. The iOS device prevents passcode from firing and the Mac computer returns to its original state after reboot. In addition, in the case of theft, security measures make the device useless, by enabling a "kill switch" that disables it once it exits the store's Wi-Fi network.
Apple Company Store
In 1993, Apple opened a store at Apple Campus in Cupertino, California. The store is the only place in the world where Apple items can be purchased, including T-shirts, mugs, and pens. In June 2015, the store was closed for renovation, and in September reopened, offering a new design and, for the first time, selling the iPhone, a notorious product omission from previous years.
Imitation
In July 2011, an American expatriate blogger living in the southwest Chinese city of Kunming reported his findings on what he called "the best ripoff shop we've ever seen" - a fake Apple Store, complete with glass exteriors, wooden table screens, winding staircases and great promotional posters found at legitimate Apple Stores, and with employees wearing the same lanyards and T-shirts with the real Apple Store employees. The Wall Street Journal reports that the store has "gained wide international attention for a remarkable length in which its owners seem to have mimicked the look and feel of the real Apple Store." The fake Apple Store is mentioned by US presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the second election debate of 2012. China's law prohibits retailers to mimic the look and feel of competitor stores, but its enforcement is weak.
According to The Wall Street Journal , unofficial Apple sellers are found all over China; the original blogger post noted that the two stores are within walking distance of the first copy, one with a misspelled sign saying "Apple Stoer". An employee of the first copy confirmed that the store was not one of Apple's 13 official sellers in Kunming. In a follow-up report, Reuters indicated that local authorities in Kunming had closed two fake Apple Stores in the city due to a lack of official business permits, but allowed three other stores to remain open, including one that attracted international attention. The operator of the store has applied for a reseller license from Apple. At the time of the report, only four legitimate Apple Stores had been opened in China, with two in Beijing and two in Shanghai.
After this event, a more real Apple Store in China began to open, which earlier was Apple's Shenzhen Store on November 3, 2012.
See also
- Computers
- Microsoft Store
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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