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April 22, 2008

business

Motley Fool: What airlines can learn from Apple

Posted Apr. 22, ’08, 11:29 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar
Category | Business

Fig1_airliner.jpgFor those of you who follow this whole stock market madness, you might know that the market as a whole is tanking [If you didn’t notice, pardon us for interrupting the ride on your gold-plated zeppelin -DM].

In particular, the airline industry is taking a bit of a—pardon the expression—nosedive. With oil reaching record highs and mergers on the horizon, the airline industry is struggling to stay, erm, aloft.

So, The Fool suggests that the airlines emulate Apple. Huh? Check it:

No one in the retail world benefits from this formula more than the Mac’s daddy. Here’s why:

1. Embrace the simple. Apple Store employees carry wireless checkout devices and can email your receipt. The result? More revenue and more time for customer service.

2. Experience is everything. Glass cases? That’s soooo Best Buy (NYSE: BBY). Apple encourages customers to try its on-display products. Play with them, even. Artificial barriers to buying—e.g., how do I know if I’ll really like this?—are thereby removed and more buying occurs.

That’s what carriers need: more buying. One way to get it is by offering in-flight upgrades. United Airlines could offer this on long-distance flights when its Economy Plus cabin has available seats.


3 Comments

fletcher Author Profile Page said:

Glass cases at Best Buy? I think pretty much everything at Best Buy is as accessible as the products at the Apple store. The presentation is a bit more cluttered, but I don't think I've ever had to ask to handle something at Best Buy. Maybe the author lives in a higher crime area.

I'm also am not a big fan of the roving checkouts at the Apple Store. Since some stores don't have a register there can be a lot of confused customers milling around trying to get the attention of one of the employees. I would really appreciate a simple queue. I have had to abandon my purchases at one of the smaller Apple stores on multiple occasions because it took too long to find a store employee to check me out.

The airlines surely need some help, but I don't know if the retail stores have a lot of lessons for them.

April 22, 2008 11:54 AM
nw_mike Author Profile Page said:

Interesting. I was a Motley Fool member for awhile and there was no love for Apple amongst it's staff. It seems most, eventually, see that traditional financial views do not always work with companies. My investment strategy has benefitted most from my "not-approved-by-stock-analysts" investment in Apple. Go Apple, go!

April 22, 2008 11:58 AM
nw_mike Author Profile Page said:

"you might know that the market as a whole is tanking"

Hmmm, the financial markets are apparently not your strong point. How would you define tanking? The fact that the Dow is in the middle of a 52 week high/low is now called tanking? The fact that the market always fluctuates is odd somehow? The market at the end of the 90's was at a dot com high of 10,000 + and after the bust (market correction) was at 8,000. Now we are 50% higher and it's tanking? Stick to the light-hearted, witty articles and everyone will be ok.

April 22, 2008 1:24 PM

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