“After Apple public relations released a statement calling staffing cutbacks at its Apple Stores a ‘mistake’ that was being reversed, many thought that John Browett’s days at the company might be numbered,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
“But Browett is still running the shops, and a new report suggests that he was just following orders — orders that came all the way from the top,” P.E.D. reports. “Once again, ifoAppleStore’s Allen has the scoop:”
[Former retail chief Ron] Johnson was champion of customer satisfaction, designing and staffing the stores to provide a superior experience for visitors and buyers alike. He was able to win over Steve Jobs with the concept that revenue and profit should be a secondary goal of Apple’s retail stores.
But in 2009, Jobs took six months of medical leave and put Tim Cook in charge of the company, including the retail stores. Cook is primarily an “operations guy,” sources explain, and his natural focus is revenues and profits, not customers. While Jobs was away, Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer began to confront Johnson on his customer-centric retail philosophy—both felt the stores didn’t generate enough revenues to justify operating expenses.
Last year when Cook became the permanent CEO, he hired Browett from UK-based Dixons to head the retail chain. Cook was apparently attracted by Browett’s like-minded focus on the more traditional concepts of retailing—logic and process leading to revenues and profits. With his new position as CEO and staffed with a revenue-focused Sr. VP, Cook naturally moved the retail operation in different directions, the sources say, resulting in last month’s staffing changes.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This sort of thinking is a cancer that will eat away at Apple all the way to the core.
As we wrote on August 17, 2012:
This… type of “thinking” will kill Apple faster than 10 lines of beige Performas.
If Cook can’t see that clearly, he needs to go, too.
Concerned Apple shareholders might want to email CEO Tim Cook directly and ask him what exactly he’s doing… tcook@apple.com
Related articles:
Reports persist of Apple Retail Store budget cuts, emphasis on revenue over customer satisfaction – August 28, 2012
After being Browettized, Apple Retail touts numbers – August 20, 2012
Apple newbie John Browett brings Dixons to Apple Retail Stores – August 17, 2012
Dear Tim Cook: Apple’s retail focus should be on delighting customers, not generating cash – August 16, 2012
Apple Retail Store chief Browett: ‘We messed up’ with Dixons-eque staffing gamble; refutes layoffs – August 16, 2012
Apple retail chief Browett to get $56 million golden hello – May 27, 2012
Apple grants 100,000 shares to new retail head John Browett – April 25, 2012
Tim Cook emails UK customer: John Browett’s role isn’t to bring Dixons to Apple Retail – February 1, 2012
Eyebrows raised over Apple’s hiring of Dixons CEO to run Apple Retail Stores – January 31, 2012
Apple hires Dixons CEO John Browett as new retail chief – January 31, 2012
NPD: Nearly 60% of Apple product owners more likely to purchase another Apple device after positive Genius Bar experience – August 28, 2012
Apple Inc.: The most profitable retailer in America – August 15, 2012
Apple’s retail juggernaut is magical and revolutionary in its own right – May 25, 2011
Apple Retail Stores hit 10th anniversary (with video of Steve Jobs’ tour of 1st store) – May 18, 2011
Apple Store: ‘The best damn retail experience in America!’ – December 2, 2010
Apple’s retail stores generate huge sales – December 27, 2007
Piper Jaffray finds ‘gravitational pull’ at Apple Retail Stores – November 26, 2007
Apple thinks different with cash register-less retail stores that bring in billions – November 23, 2007
Apple makes retail seem ridiculously easy – May 29, 2007
How Apple’s Steve Jobs is revolutionizing Manhattan retail – May 08, 2007
Fortune: Apple Inc. is America’s best retailer – March 08, 2007
How Apple Retail Stores beat Best Buy, Neiman Marcus, and Tiffany – December 19, 2006
Funny, after each Apple “win” (speak positive stories) there is a flood of stories by “anonymous” sources that exactly know that f.e. Tim Cook was the person behind the recent retail actions. Rumors, rumors, again and again … c’mon people don’t believe anything …
told ya.
Well, I emailed Cook. Let’s see if he responds.
I’m stunned that you guys bought into this story. If you paid any attention at all to what went down and had any insight into how schedules are managed at the stores you’d know that this really was an issue with the formula and was corrected almost immediately. Only impacted limited markets and had absolutely nothing to do with a strategic shift away from customer experience. That’s absurd.
I’ve been a reader for the better part of a decade now. Always loved your honest commentary. I’m a bit stunned that you’ve jumped to a conclusion given the depth of coverage you’ve given to Apple over the years. You should be able to smell the bullshit light years away.
Does this story honestly sound even remotely plausible to you given what you know about the company and who leads it? Do you think for one second that this management team including Cook would allow for even the slightest degradation in the customer experience which is what drives Apple at it’s core?
Apple retail sees more revenue per square feet than any company in the world. The next closest is thousands of dollars below Apple and that’s Tiffany’s. Having been a part of Apple retail since 2005 I can tell you unequivocally that the commitment to great experience has not wavered one bit. Ever. We have never been pushed to drive up sales over giving the customer a delightful interaction and the best solution.
Apple never has been and never will be driven by P&L. Revenue comes as a byproduct of doing right by your products and services. That’s in Apple’s DNA and nobody in that company or on that board would have it any other way.
The only thing that is absolutely known to be a fact here is that the staffing formula changed for some markets and it threw some schedules out of whack. As was pointed out by Apple, this was fixed almost immediately. I’ve personally not seen any impact whatsoever. In fact, part time people are working tons of hours and have been all summer. The company continues to hire and invest in it’s people and it’s stores. In the past year, they have even been hiring special cleaning crews at night to make extra sure that the store is spotless. The walls are polished and the floors are machine-scrubbed on a regular basis. Maintenance issues are often addressed before anyone in the store even realize it’s needed.
Specialists don’t work off commission. Their success isn’t based on upselling and They’ve been trying to encourage the use of the easypay app for as long as its been out. It’s a value add to the customer experience and it’s been a great help.
The timing of this story is suspect and MDN of all people should have picked up on that. It’s total bullshit.
Hope you’re right. I’d feel a lot better if you are.
After reading all of the above, it does appear that we all get Steve’s original mission even more than those he left in charge. Maybe because Apple’s customers directly feel the difference of the relationship of Apple and it’s customers v.s the competitors more than those left in charge to steer the Mothership.
We might have to mutiny if the Mothership does not put itself back on course.
Gruber’s not buying it either. http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/08/29/ifoapplestore
As I remember when the Apple Stores first came into fruition, their purpose was for Public Relations. The goal was that the PR created by the stores would not produce a profit margin in the stores, but an overall increase in sales in total. I believe that they have succeeded in that area, and should continue in that mode well into the future. If customers are treated properly, then product sales will follow. The sales may not come from the stores themselves, but from other retail sources. The stores should be allowed to continue to accomplish the PR job they were intended to accomplish.
Let me get this straight. An exceptional company with an exceptional product and EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE is vying to dumb down and provide what every other greed-driven corporation in America provides? I suppose that when the profits take a dive (due to lack of customer excitement and confidence in what will then become a merely attractive product), THEN we will receive yet another “oops.”
Cook: I won’t feel sorry for you and I won’t look back. Idiocy is unforgiveable.
Now that the Union/worker bashers are out of the way for now my real comment. My take on this is that mr. Cook unfortunately is and was under Jobs the bean counter and his role as such was dampened and controled by Jobs. Now that Jobs is gone and Cook is in charge we will naturally see Cooks bean counter tendencies come out in his direction and hires. If of course this indeed can be traced all the way back to him. Is their a man to replace Jobs, probably not. Are we going to see the slow decline of the Apple we know and love? Unfortunately most likely. My money would be to bring back the other founding Steve in a kind of grey eminence role. It with real veto powers to at least have some of the original vision if not at least a preaty good facsimile. Lawyers and bean counters without visionary leadership are in my experience the decaying modus operandi of the conservative think tanks little grey book to maximizing profits while killing all and any golden geese/apples. In neocon America it’s the Law.