“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.”
Too bad those portable scanners use Windows =(
Seems to me there is a case for both an obvious paypoint AND roving checkout staff…
Either way, it doesn’t seem to be stopping Apple stores from selling like others only dream of doing.
OK then… how much of the stores’ success is down to the stores’ layout/atmosphere/location etc and how much due to people being driven there by the products/advertising/word of mouth?
One can’t do without the other I guess. Apple have the two working beautifully in tandem. Exactly the way they have the software and the hardware in tandem too.
What a company. What products. What designers. What a leader. What a recipe for success! Go Apple!
The store pay point hasn’t changed, although it does move around now. I was at Southdale Edina last night. I asked were the Touch was and he brought out one, then iWork 08 and some other things I needed. He put all the info into his little red gizmo. He asked for my card and I said I’d be paying cash. He led me to the old check out area and scanned everything using a iMac, took my money, gave me the receipt and I was on my way. Oh, the iPod Touch is much nicer than I thought! Well worth it if you have less than 2000 or so songs.
CASH is KING!
Wasn’t there also a story some months ago about the same aspect of Apple Stores, and how it was potentially unsafe as they are transmitting data on their Wi-Fi network – which is open and not encrypted in any way?
Anyone know if that is still the case, or does the data get transmitted in a different way other than the store Wi-Fi hot spot?
@Peter, I agree. Lame to be using Windows CE. How hard would a doc connector card reader be to make for the iPhone/iPod Touch, I mean really!?!
It was a painful and expensive mistake.
The Mac Pro cost me thousands. I dropped it on my foot, and I should have gone to the store in Clarendon, ’cause it’s closer.
Apple stores truly are an experience. Even though they are often packed with customers, help is usually just a step away with a friendly inquiry, nothing pushy. Ringing up is an equally simple process. Once again Apple takes their philosophy applying it to something as mundane as retail and makes it a winner.
I agree with Dave. Portable checkouts are really good, but there must be a fallback place to go. And even though emailed receipts are really good, you must be able to get a printed receipt on the spot at the store. And Apple had better not stop taking cash. I hope we don’t see a trend developing on the no-cash front and I don’t want that to be one of Apple’s “innovations.” No cash for iPhones? (The reason is inconsequential.) What’s next? No floppy drives in Macs?
(Now, don’t forget to uncheck, “Notify me…”.)
I used to work at a store. And yes, “Windows CE powered” is printed on the back of the mini scanner devices. They used to use iMacs w/Java based POS software, but it’s like they’re saying “Macs can’t run our own retail business.”
The video surveillance computer in the back was a Dell.
Quite disappointing and hard to believe that there couldn’t be a Mac based solution for all these things.
Do you suppose they went with the Windows and Dell solution because it was cheaper than using Macs? Also if it crashes they can’t blame it on OS X?
I don’t know what Apple is using for it’s POS system but a good one to use is Xsilva Lightspeed. http://www.xsilva.com/ It runs on Macs and only Macs and it’s amazing. I’ve used it when working at an Apple only reseller. We took cash too but we didn’t have a cash drawer under each cashiers spot at the desk. It worked just fine for us. … I think the PDA on every employee is stupid. I think there should be cashiers at actual registers with cash drawers but that’s just me. That’s my two cents.
They’ve been using the portable scanners for years at my local Apple Store and it’s great.
Emailed receipts are *optional* (they can print you one if you want, but it takes extra time and wastes paper).
They do take cash (but not for iPhones).
Big Mac!, Lightspeed may be good, but for smaller retailers, it seems expensive especially since you have to pay a lot for a service and support agreement. Admittedly, I have not done some comparison shopping, but, at first glance, it still seems high to me.
[Now, uncheck “Notify me…”]
Hi all: What brand are the “PDA-things” that Apple Store employees are using. This could be a clue to future Apple products…
I don’t know why the CE and Dell stuff for those purposes. My guess is all of the former Gap people in the upper echelon of the retail division and the go with vendors you know thing. Actually a little research revealed that 360 Commerce that supplied apple with the POS software was bought by Oracle which now pushes the mobile palm and CE based POS. Since Steve and Larry are old pals, that’s the reason I’m sure.
I don’t remember a specific “brand” on the devices, but they looked like palm pilots from 10 years ago with a card swiper attached to the bottom. And as far as the crashing, the devices themselves were slow to log into, and would show wildly different battery life all the time and then stop in the middle of transactions. I avoided those things like the plague. Hopefully they’re better now, but my experience using them would make me avoid them if I were buying there.
Yeah, a deal with Larry could be explained, still it’s like running PC ads with a Mac in the photo, only in reverse. I’d think that they would want to use the Mac/Apple technology exclusively.
As a small business owner it would impress me a lot more that they could truly meet all of my needs. I don’t want Parallels or a “PC” solution on something that I’m paying more for initially. ROI is great, until it goes downhill when I need to spend an additional $300.00 – $700.00 per machine to install another OS and use those programs to do what I purchased the Mac’s for. Not to mention the hassle of running two OSes at the same time. That require more processor and additional RAM. Instead of competing with those who are already making Apple third party software, they should be filling the gap with software that doesn’t exist for the Mac.
Sorry, didn’t mean to single you out. I’m just frustrated at the shortcomings of the Mac and Apple’s software. I spend a lot of time trying to track down “Mac” solutions. Quite often settling on less features and paying more than the PC alternative(s).
I don’t like this change at all. I went to the Apple store in the U. Village in Seattle to get a replacement for my stolen iPhone. All I wanted to do was walk in, buy it and leave.
The place was packed and I couldn’t find a register. I asked the Apple associate standing by the door where can I buy an iPhone, and he held up his handheld scanner and said “Just look for someone with one of these!” as if he was too busy to sell me a $400 product with the register he was holding.
The register people are wearing the aqua colored tshirts and two of them are standing behind the Genius Bar with about 15 people crowded around. One is chatting with a customer and not ringing anything up. Another is checking out a man with a towering pile of boxes. That leaves one Aqua-shirt left that can sell me an iPhone.
The one available associate is talking to a man not buying anything, but he needs help on something. And there are two other guys converging on her at the same time I am. When I get my “turn”, I tell her that there are two other guys who want to check out and leave which seems to have caught her by surprise. She was gracious and pleasant even though I was stressed out because I felt like I was skipping ahead of the other guys.
I should not be reduced to being a stalker so I can spend money! I should never have been pushed off on another associate who is obviously too busy. Why didn’t door guy GET me a checkout or do it himself? Such a botched experiment in customer service is not what I expect from Apple.
The idea of no cash registers is nice, but it hasn’t been implemented well. Its extremely problematic during times when a store has heavy traffic. And if I had known that buying a $400 product would be so stressful, I would have gone elsewhere.
@ Hg Wells – “Big Mac!, Lightspeed may be good, but for smaller retailers, it seems expensive especially since you have to pay a lot for a service and support agreement.”
Yes Lightspeed does seem expensive but I believe Apple can afford it. I wouldn’t exactly call them a small retailer given how many retail stores they have and how much money they’re making these days. Again I’ve used Lightspeed and find it quite amazing for a POS system. I personally think it would suit Apple quite well. I’ve never been to an Apple Store seeing as there is none here in Calgary Alberta or my home town Ottawa Ontario so I can’t say from personal experience if it would actually work but I can see it working just fine.
yep I agree with you montex! At least you have an Apple store to go to. They are getting closer now, only a two hour drive for me.
I love the handheld armed employees always works out great for me.
montex, if your local Apple store is always packed just call and make a appointment first. Then someone will meet you at the door “probably what the employee that handed you off was doing” and give you one on one service.
I work at that U Village store, and for the most part I think our easy-pay handheld systems work great, there are a lot less lines and overall people seem happy without the cash registers. The fact that we only have one POS register does get people confused though, but I think once the whole system has been in place for a while and people begin knowing what to expect before entering the store there will be less confusion. I apologize you had a less than satisfactory experience montex, the reason the door greeter wasn’t able to check you out immediately is that his job is to welcome people to the store and send them to the right place, and if he were to leave his post then people would be entering the store unnoticed, something we try our best not to do. Usually if you leave your name with the greeter, they will radio ahead to someone free who will meet you halfway and get you helped, but unfortunately if the store is really busy, like anywhere, you may have to wait a few minutes. Also, something to keep in mind is that almost all the employees are carrying the easy-pays, not just the blue-shirted concierges. I hope your next visit is easier and swifter, and I encourage you to fill out the survey linked on your receipt, as all input made there goes directly to the store and is most definitely taken in to account when modifying our floor-plans and the overall way we conduct business.
I agree that there should be a mac solution to this situation. When they first implemented those things, they said, “Don’t leave it sitting anywhere because of 1) someone picking it up to use it while you’re logged in, and 2) It’s proprietary technology.”
That made me laugh hard because a car wash near my house had been using that type of system for a good 2 years before that. They tried to make it seem like it had been invented for use in the Apple stores. They’ll say it’s for the customer, but really it’s so people on the floor can sell as much stuff as possible.
“I give them two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake.”
Apple is not gateway.
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i tried to use cash last week to buy an iphone
they don’t accept cash for iphones, so i used a cc (seems they still have the 2 iphones per person limit)
i then had to get back in queue to buy the accessories i wanted with the cash