News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

May 28, 2007

stores

Apple’s retail prowess hard to copy

Posted May. 28, ’07, 11:30 AM PT by Kate Marshall
Category | Apple » Stores

SuburbanSquare.jpgWalk through your typical Apple store and you’ll likely find a bustling cornucopia of consumerism (see what happens when I don’t drink coffee?) Maybe it’s the magnetic pull of their products that brings people in; perhaps it’s the Genius Bar; or maybe consumers wander into the Apple Store by mistake, thinking that a trip to Hawaii is in order. Whatever the reason, it’s hard to argue with the success of Apple’s retail stores. So why is that success so hard for Apple’s competitors?

Randall Stross at The International Herald Tribune compares Apple’s retail story with Sony’s, which has 39 stores (including flagship locations in New York and San Francisco). Sony Retail’s senior vice president compares a typical Sony retail store to “a fashion boutique for women and children,” which strikes me as a bit odd. It’s great that my Mac looks stylish and works well but I’m not ever going to confuse it with say, a cute pair of shoes. Although “iShoe” does have a nice ring to it…

[Via MacSurfer]


1 Comments

Fletcher said:

One of the strange things I find about the Apple stores is how poorly many of them work. The one at Southcenter in Seattle is a "mini" which has one counter at the back that serves double duty as registers and genius bar.

There is usually a large crowd at the back of the store trying to find the registers, sign up for a genius slot, or waiting to see the genius. It is so chaotic that a lot of people end up waiting a lot longer than needed since it is not clear how the store works. I myself have left the store on more than one occasion even though I had cash in hand to buy something.

The store is always very crowded so the chaos doesn't seem to be turning off too many customers. If nothing else, all the people who are trying to figure out how the store works make it look like the store has a lot of traffic.

May 28, 2007 1:51 PM

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