“With next week’s Apple Watch event fast approaching, Apple has revealed its retail selling strategies to employees, including a focus on ‘three key features’ and a plan to encourage Watch customers to upgrade or switch to new iPhones,” Mark Gurman reports for 9to5Mac. “According to selling guidelines provided by sources within Apple Retail, Apple believes that ‘many customers have already decided they want an Apple Watch,’ and will use the Watch to ‘position the benefits’ of purchasing a compatible iPhone model.”
MacDailyNews Take: If Apple Watch does what Apple hopes it will do, don’t be surprised to see dedicated Apple Watch retail stores. Think Gap and babyGap in the same mall, but keeping the customers for each apart and out of each other’s way.
“Although many people expect next week’s media event to focus on new selling points for the Apple Watch, the pitch interestingly focuses on promoting ‘3 Key Features’ previously highlighted by Apple during the first Apple Watch reveal in September 2014,” Gurman reports. “These features are ‘Health and Fitness,’ ‘New Ways to Connect’ [with people] and ‘Timekeeping.’ Apple notably spotlights Health and Fitness first, and discusses it the most, saying much less about the communication and timekeeping features.”
Tons more in the full article – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Get your Apple Retail Store shopping done now, before Apple Watch hits. We have a feeling that trips to Apple Retail Stores are about to get, er, time-consuming.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Not that I expect them to try this but I think there may be some benefit to considering ‘packaging’ the Apple Watch with a new iPhone purchase for ‘new’ iPhone users. Since you already have them in the store purchasing an iPhone, why not sweeten the deal with a discount (or something) to get them to also acquire an Apple Watch the same day. Sort of a high-end ‘would you like fries with that’ .. 😛
Apple will not have separate stores. That would hinder the cross selling of products. You need an iPhone for the watch to work. It would not make sense to have you visit one store to purchase the watch then have to go to another store to purchase the iphone. But a store within a store is mostly (imho).
You make a great point but I still wouldn’t discount the idea of a dedicated Apple Store. In that store they could sell the Apple Watch & iPhone only.
MDN keeps pushing this dedicated Apple Watch Store concept. While I see the potential for some strategically located Apple Watch Stores, both separate stores and store-within-a-store partnerships with luxury retailers. But I do not expect the number of Apple Watch Stores to be large compared with the number of Apple Stores worldwide.
I believe that Apple will continue to maintain a consolidated retail approach based on its established (and new) Apple Stores. They will redesign and enlarge the Apple Stores to accommodate new products, like the Apple Watch, and to improve the customer experience. But I don’t see them splitting off Apple Watch Stores as a fundamental strategy. If Apple had ever intended to follow the strategy championed by MDN, then the iPhone would have been the logical product to be featured in dedicated stores. If Apple had created iPhone Stores, then the Apple Watch would have naturally been grouped with the iPhone in these theoretical iPhone Stores. But Apple did not begin building iPhone Stores, even though they sell 15 times more iPhones per quarter than Macs.
A lot of people entering the watch stores, should there be any, will already own an iPhone, so the store not selling iPhones wouldn’t be a big deal.
I predict 20% iPhone users will get an Apple Watch by years end.
I agree that there won’t be a separate store for Watch, Apple likes its stores to be packed with people. And besides, purchasing a Watch is not like purchasing an iPhone or a computer. Most people will know about what the watch does, they’ll want one, and the transaction will take all of three minutes. Identify model wanted, use Apple Pay, and that’s it, you’re out of the store.
I expect to pre-order my 42mm Space Gray Aluminum Sport and receive delivery the first day they’re in the stores. This way I’ll be able skip the overnight store camping experience. 😜