“Not a cash register is in sight. The electronics on display are all powered up and ready for use. Personal trainers, specialists and newly minted concierges in aqua blue shirts make the Apple Store feel part salon, part Internet cafe — just without the espresso,” May Wong reports for The Associated Press.
“Over the past year, Apple has revamped its 201 stores, changing the layout, adding services and increasing its staffing. The ‘concierge’ service that Apple launched last week is only the latest initiative designed to draw more visitors and bolster already record-breaking sales,” Wong reports.
“Clipboard-carrying concierges greet customers at the door to direct them to the right section of the store or to the personal shopper or trainer with whom they had made an appointment. Several others mill the floor in case someone has a question or is ready to buy an iPod, an iPhone or a Macintosh computer,” Wong reports. “With cash registers removed, a common question nowadays is, ‘Where do I pay?’ The store employee would instantly reply, “Right here,” and whip out a portable scanner from a hip holster.”
“Apple started eliminating checkout areas at stores last year and has now finished arming each store employee with handheld scanners for faster transactions,” Wong reports. “That has freed up space for shiny wares or one-on-one consultations. The 11-foot counter used in the past for the ‘Genius Bar,’ the in-store technical support section, has been extended to about 35 feet per store.
Even without cash registers “sales are flying high,” Wong reports. “The retail stores hosted more than 100 million visitors and produced about $4.2 billion in revenue in Apple’s fiscal year that ended in September, up nearly 24% from $3.4 billion the previous year — in line with the Cupertino-based company’s overall sales growth.”
“Apple has sold more than 120 million of its market-leading iPod digital media players, introducing millions of people to Apple’s design aesthetics,” Wong reports. “Apple says that more than half of the computers sold at Apple stores are to people new to the Macintosh platform. After hovering for years with a 2% to 3% share of the PC market in the United States, Apple’s slice has now grown to 8%, according to market researcher Gartner Inc.”
Full article here.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t once again bring you David Goldstein’s May 2001 prediction regarding Apple Retail Stores, “I give them two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake.”
I saw this change firsthand at The Gardens Mall Apple store in Florida. At first I was a little confused looking for the registers but then someone stepped up and offered to ring me up right int the spot. This was very convenient.
Well done Apple.
They’ve been doing that restaurants — even small ones — in the EU for years. I had always wondered why no one did it here.
I was at the mission viejo store today…. Holy Cow Batman.
i was at the SoHo store 2 weeks ago buying an iPhone for my wife and they still had cash registers and had to line up to buy an iPhone that were kept behind the cash registers. Although long, the lines did move quite quickly.
A cash register is a pretty dumb computer for a computer company to use, for chrissakes.
DOH!!!
I meant the lights on the cash registers!
I wonder if Laura Goldman knows David Goldstein????????
What happens if you want to pay in cash?
“What happens if you want to pay in cash?”
Cash is Unamerican. Real patriots use credit cards so the government can track you at all times. Untraceable cash helps terrorists. So remember, if you use cash, the terrorists win!
Seriously though-what does happen if you want to use cash? Does anybody know?
Cash??? Get 4 dividend credit cards, which each pay $300.00 per year, change them every three months, so that at the end of the year you have $1200 in dividends. You must pay all bills every month. I have never paid interest on any card, so I don’t care what the interest rate is. Just do it.
Come on now, of course I have cards-I am just genuinely curious whether or not cash can be used at the Apple store.
What store(s) did that author visit? My local Apple Store – Eastview Mall, Rochester, NY – has HALVED their Genius Bar with their recent remodel. So much for his claim that the GB’s are getting bigger!
They still take cash. They have a till under the counter so you don’t notice it.
I bought a pair of iPhone earbuds two days ago in Crystal Court in CA and did the same thing, “excuse me, where do I pay for this?”
She wiped out handheld PDA cash register thingy (how long before that becomes an Apple product?) took my credit card, and said my receipt was just emailed to me. I LOVE having my receipt on email so I can look it up anytime I want.
The strange thing is, I was in the middle of the store and didn’t get a paper receipt. When I walked out, how did they know I paid for it?
“When I walked out, how did they know I paid for it?”
They all have cyborg implants in their eyes that allow them to see which customers have paid as digital representations. When they whip out the hand-held scanner it actually does a complete holographic scan of your body and inputs your DNA structure into their computer system. The computer then adds digital annotations to each customer as to whether they have been helped, what they have bought in the past or whether they are a new customer, whether they have paid for their current purchase, and so on.
Also, there are holographic scanners on the exits that will automatically detect if you are leaving with unpaid merchandise, no matter where you hide it.
or it could be a deactivated RFID…..
@TowerTone
Na, I like Vlad’s answer better.
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Of course, the best part is that the operating system used by the scanners comes from Microsoft. I think it’s Windows CE.
C’mon, Apple! Build a credit-card reader for the iPod touch and use that!
They’ve been doing the “scan your credit card with handheld device to pay” thing for years and years. If this is considered “news” by the popular media, Apple really is ahead of it’s time.
The “personal trainer” (and “concierge”) are pretty new. Good ideas that put Apple above the competition.
did i miss something here…mdn’s link is titled with david goldstein….but when i click on the link, i get a Business Week article the doesn’t have david goldstein in it…and it is by cliff edwards…
I guess i missed it somewhere….
help me
“Of course, the best part is that the operating system used by the scanners comes from Microsoft. I think it’s Windows CE.”
tis true.
they are also the slowest machines in the store, and the only ones i have ever seen crash.
pretty funny.
Sorry to disagree with people, but I find the new stores without cash registers to be very confusing and a source of frustration for customers. Apple Store employees are actually usually busy helping people (that’s a good thing normally). If you go into a store knowing what you want and stand there (where?) waiting for someone to help you or looking for an employee who isn’t busy… Lots of Luck! In practice, it’s just not working (and make it even more complicated for everyone involved and try paying with cash). This is an example of change that brings no improvement to the process…
I agree with Dave! A cash register just plain works. Keep the PDA’a with every employee but have a register too.
macgravy,
Read the article. Here is a quote:
Rather than unveil a Velveeta Mac, Jobs thinks he can do a better job than experienced retailers at moving the beluga. Problem is, the numbers don’t add up. Given the decision to set up shop in high-rent districts in Manhattan, Boston, Chicago, and Jobs’s hometown of Palo Alto, Calif., the leases for Apple’s stores could cost $1.2 million a year each, says David A. Goldstein, president of researcher Channel Marketing Corp. Since PC retailing gross margins are normally 10% or less, Apple would have to sell $12 million a year per store to pay for the space. Gateway does about $8 million annually at each of its Country Stores. Then there’s the cost of construction, hiring experienced staff. “I give them two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake,” says Goldstein.
This guy is the PRESIDENT of research? I hope for his companies sake he doesn’t work there any more. I believe this link takes you to his company:
http://www.cmcus.com
Sure would be nice to see what his opinion of Apple Retail is now.