“In Apple stores, shoppers are encouraged to touch and sample products, and traditional cash registers and lines don’t exist,” Rachelle Dragani reports for MacNewsWorld. “Retail experience and customer service are paramount. That experience is part of Apple’s broader strategy of increasing brand loyalty, Leslie Hand, research director at IDC Retail Insights, told MacNewsWorld. ‘Apple has incredible sales per square foot in its stores because of the combination of products and service,’ she said.”
“But while Apple is increasing its retail presence, many less populated areas still don’t have an Apple store,” Dragani reports. “So the company is branching out to other retailers to drive more mainstream sales. Walmart and Target (NYSE: TGT) are two of the major retailers offering expanded lines of Apple products in addition to their regular electronic lineup. Both stores are hoping that with more iPods, iPhones and iPads, overall traffic and sales will increase as well, according to a report this week from The Wall Street Journal.”
Dragani reports, “Increased sales could be a winning situation for Apple too, but an iPad sale in a Walmart might not generate the same brand loyalty that it would in an Apple store, said Hand.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple should set up a webpage and create an app that allows Apple product fans and AAPL shareholders to easily report on the performance of Walmart, Target, Best Buy, etc. regarding Apple stores-within-stores. If we had something like that back in the Sears days (dusty, powerless Macs with no mouse), perhaps things wouldn’t have gotten so bad. Use us, Apple! All of us can easily and more efficiently keep a collective eye on things and make sure these third-party retailers aren’t damaging the Apple brand via their innate lower standards.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Carl H.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Analyst expects Apple to expand store-within-store presence at Walmart, Target – May 3, 2012
New Apple store-within-a-store displays appear inside Walmart – April 16, 2012
Apple store-within-a-store outlets coming to Target this year, sources say – January 6, 2012