Apple retail wins applause

Tue, 07/01/2008 - 3:46am — Jonny Evans

Retail Week has compiled a list of the 100 “must visit” shops from around the world - with Apple retail outlets in London and New York taking two spots on the list.

Apple Retail Stores on Regent Street, London and Fifth Avenue, New York won places. The criteria for selection demands each store excels in product, service and creativity. “For someone who has not grown up in the technical generation”, said one retailer about Regent Street, “this shop is very simple, has a great range, excellent service and everything is laid out easily

On the New York store, Liberty chief executive Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye told Retail Week: "Apple has implemented the three key factors in retail: excitement, education and ease. It makes your life easy, the store is exciting and people are available to educate you. The outside is unique. It is transparent, features a glass cube and has no ground floor, only basement. This represents the transparency of the retailer itself and the design is in line with the DNA of the brand."

Read the report here.

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Industry Intelligence

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Comments

Not all is that great at Apple Stores

Tue, 07/01/2008 - 5:20am — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

With the rapid growth has come some not too sure what the $%&* they are talking about employees. I went to a getting started seminar in Baton Rouge, LA for my wife. The "trainer" was much more versed with PC's than Mac's and couldn't answer some basic question. When I bought software, I inquired if it would run on my Macbook. The answer was it says here on the box it is for a Macintosh. Beyond that they were clueless. When my wife asked for a specific software item, they said that they did not have it. I went to the software rack and there it was. The store is nice but the employees need a lot of training, they are not technically savy at all.

Well... That IS the sad

Tue, 07/01/2008 - 8:02am — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)

Well... That *IS* the sad reality of retail. Not much can be done to buck that trend. They need to staff their sales floor at a wage befitting of retail salespeople... and not all of us Mac enthusiasts can afford to work for such short-pay full or part time... so you're going to have to train a lot of your staff.

We take for granted what we know - and it's easy for us power-users to see past the quick education some of these people got before joining Apple. It does stink, but it's true of any retail experience: I used to work for Bose and found it funny when I'd go into a retail location and the sales staff didn't know things that *I* knew... and I am just a lowly visual designer. :)

At Least THey Are There....

Tue, 07/01/2008 - 11:16am — ronjamin (not verified)

Heres my experience at Apple:
1. Walk in Door, almost instantly greeted by someone who asks if they can help. If I say no, they go away until you give them eye contact later for a purchase.

Heres my experience at Best Buy:
1. Walk in door, greeted by a guy sitting behind security monitors.
2. Walk around store searching for what I want.
3. Walk around store, where are the sales people.
4. The dude in Car Audio is pushing what he likes on me, not what I want. He doesn't know a thing about Plasma TVs.

Apple isn't perfect, but they beat the pants off of every other retailer out there.