“Retail is supposed to be hard. Apple has made it seem ridiculously easy,” Randall Stross reports for The New York Times. “And yet it must be harder than it appears, or why hasn’t the Windows side of the personal computer business figured it out?””
“Of the many predictions in the world of technology that have turned out to be spectacularly wrong, a prominent place should be made for what the pundits said in 2001 when Apple opened its first retail store in Tysons Corner, Va. ‘It’s completely flawed,’ one analyst said, and that was the conventional wisdom. Commercial rent and furnishings would be expensive, inventory tricky and margins slim. Experienced computer resellers were struggling, and no computer manufacturer had ever found success operating its own branded stores. Analysts predicted at the time that Apple would shut down the stores and write off the huge losses in two years,” Stross reports.
“That assuredly would have been the Apple store’s fate had Steve Jobs permitted aesthetic and design considerations to trump all else. But while guiding the planning for the stores in 2000 and 2001, Mr. Jobs took on a more ambitious challenge than building freestanding museums of design that would show the Apple flag and do little else. He set out to create the conditions most likely to convert museum visitors into actual customers, and then to make those customers feel that they were being pampered long after the sale was consummated,” Stross reports.
“Customer response is told in the numbers. Last month, Apple released results for the quarter ended March 31. More than 21.5 million people visited its stores, which now number more than 180. Store sales were $855 million, up 34 percent from the quarter a year earlier, and they contributed more than $200 million in profits,” Stross reports.
Full article, which contrasts Apple’s success with Sony’s and other’s retail failures, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Jeff H.,” “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son,” “RadDoc,” and “James,” for the heads up.]
Hmm, was one of those analysts Thurrott? Or Enderele? Or that other guy…….what’s his name……..
Eh. Apple Stores are great places to go to.
Yeah … and Gateway thought it was easy …
Too bad they didnt have His Steveness running the show !
You know, one thing that really impressed me on a trip to the Apple store last Xmas: The place was packed to the gills and I was waiting in a long line. An Apple employee with some sort of hand-held POS system asked if anyone in line was going to make their purchase with a card. I said yes and he came right over to me, scanned my item and card, printed a receipt and I was on my way in 60 seconds or less. Very cool.
Apple succeeds because it as consistently creates products that are not available from any other company.
You can’t buy a computer that runs Mac OS X (and Windows and Linux) from any other company.
You can’t buy a digital media player that is “iPod-compatible” from any other company. The greatness of iPod is in the integration of hardware, software, and online store, and no one else does that successfully.
Soon, you won’t be able to buy a phone that is anything like an iPhone from any other company. It will be unique because of it has a multi-touch interface that took years to perfect, run a version of Mac OS X as its OS, and it’s an iPod.
That’s what Apple does time and again. Offer products that competitors cannot easily replicate. It has a monopoly on coolness. The Apple Stores are great and well executed, but they would not be successful if Apple did not have those “only from Apple” products in the first place. The problem with other retail is that everyone else competes on price. The way Apple competes is the exact opposite.
mudflapper
that certainly doesn’t SOUND like a piece of sh!t system (if it worked so well)……
….oh, you meant point of sale, didn’t you?
MW:english, it’s what’s for America.
Dell is going to have a go also. Trouble is — they’re selling crap.
I love the spirit that pervades at an Apple store. Everyone is on an Apple. Kids are focused and learning; old folks are turning into kids when they use an Apple; everyone is talking to everyone and smiling. Damn, this is one beautiful experience.
The reason is it so popular is because for the exception for iPods you can’t really purchase Apple products anywhere else besides directly from Apple… And now with CompUSA closing down stores, the Apple Stores should be doing even better… There really isn’t even a good place to buy Mac software. You can walk into any Best Buy, Circuit City or anywhere and buy a Sony product… so why the need for a Sony Store?
It wasn’t an analyst, but a president of a consulting firm, David Goldstein of the Channel Marketing Corporation
”It’s completely flawed,” he said of Apple’s venture. ”They’ll shut it down and write off the huge losses in two years.”
The New York Times
“I give [Apple] two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake,” predicted retail consultant David Goldstein.
CNN Money
Painful indeed, Mr. Goldstein.
“that certainly doesn’t SOUND like a piece of sh!t system ….oh, you meant point of sale, didn’t you?”
However, if you look closely at the handhelds, you’ll see they run Windows Mobile. So, therefore, you’re both right.
“If Payless ShoeSource can reposition itself as a place that markets ‘cool,’ ” he asked, “then why can’t Sony?”
OUCH!
When IBM opened stores marketing the new IBM PC people flocked to the store to have a look and kick the tires – then bought a Compaq for less. Things are even worse today with the PC supermarket approach.
Apple stores don’t just sell a product – they sell a relationship. You feel like you want to return to speak with the same guys/gals again. I even feel like supporting them for some bizarre reason?!!
But the two main reasons I take my family to the Apple store: it is fun and I know everything is Mac-compatible.
“But the two main reasons I take my family to the Apple store: it is fun”
Mr Mackerel: I’m just trying to treat my family to a little fun.
Mrs Mackerel: Oh spare me, I know your brand of family fun. Tomorrow you’ll probably kill the desk clerk, hold up a McDonalds, and drive us 1000 miles out of the way to see the world’s largest pile of mud, then go to the Apple store!
Retail 101. Now, pay attention, young Dell, you might just learn something.
Apple has really got it right with their retail outlets. I’ve had two female friends of mine set up dates to go to an Apple store, get something to eat and then go to the movies. They aren’t planning to purchase anything till the WWDC though. They love my mini and want to see if there will be a newer version. But all the same they loved the store.
However, it is STILL retail and as such working retail, anyone’s retail really, really sucks.
moBy, are u sure they loved your “mini”?
I admit that I was one that thought Apple was making a big mistake. With Dell’s online success and Gateway’s stores floundering, I just couldn’t understand why Apple was making a move into brick and mortar.The success factor, of course, is the service and fraternity. The Genius Bar and training theater are two elements that I didn’t anticipate, but certainly make Apple Stores more than simple retail outlets. I am glad to be proven wrong.
Bill,
If you hadn’t dropped out of high school and received a real education, maybe, just maybe, you could find a better job.
Cubist,
Welcome brother of a different mother!
A Non Imus Fan,
Sorry about the confusion there. I did mean Point Of Sale, not Piece Of Sh!t.
Anyway, I was quite impressed because I figured I’d be waiting in line for 15 minutes, at least. But I was outta there in 60 seconds. Now that’s service, Apple-style.
If I remember correct….they do a higher grossing sale per square foot compared with Nieman-Marcus and Tiffany & Co. Something like $4000 a square foot. Engineered retail experience and design…pure brilliance. Where everything is thoughtfully planned out and every human behavior considered and calculated for.
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Not a huge point, but I’m unhappy with the statement made in the article:
What’s “insane”? A Voodoo Omen, configured for serious graphics work — two dual-core processors, liquid cooling, four 15,000-RPM hard drives — costs more than $16,000. No Apple retail store carries anything like it.