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

November 1, 2007

stores

How Apple Stores Work

Posted Nov. 1, ’07, 11:16 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar
Category | Apple » Stores

applestoresf2.jpgEver wonder what makes an Apple Store tick?

Journalist Alex Frankel spent two years in various retail jobs to find out. The verdict? Apple’s stores, when compared with Gap, Starbucks, or the Container Store, work the best.

Here’s why:

Once on staff, I learned the difference between a gigahertz and a gigabyte, but more important, I saw that, like the iPod’s user interface, training of Apple Store employees has been carefully designed. A series of podcasts I listened to and watched showed that selling was all about the approach. I shadowed other workers as they executed the company’s three-step sales process. They explained to customers that they had some questions to understand their needs, got permission to fire away, and then kept digging to ascertain which products would be best. Position, permission, probe.

All this sets the employee’s on-the-job attitude. At an Apple Store, workers don’t seem to be selling (or working) too hard, just hanging out and dispensing information. And that moves a ridiculous amount of goods: Apple employees help sell $4,000 worth of product per square foot per month. When employees become sharers of information, instead of sellers of products, customers respond.


3 Comments

krye said:

Old news man. Old news.

November 1, 2007 12:04 PM
yo-yo said:

Kind of like when you go to a real record/cd store and the staff is knowledgeable about music and love their jobs. but for products worth ~$15 rather than ~$1000.

November 1, 2007 12:07 PM
Dave said:

I dunno, every time I walk into an Apple Store, I have employees pass right by me all the time, even when I have the "I need help" look and body posture. I figured they were still helping someone, so I watched where they would go, and lo and behold they weren't. Perhaps the two local stores in Orlando are the exceptions. When I did go in once to buy an iPod clock radio, the clerk didn't ask me a single question.

November 5, 2007 7:01 AM

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