I find the whole Apple Store shopping experience to be confusing and anti-customer at the best of times. Everything seems to be geared towards making an appointment rather than dropping by. I'm glad to see they're starting to pull back from that. Not once have I ever been able to find someone to take my money, I always have ended up having to put the item back and go to another store to actually buy it.
Geez, how hard is it to hold an item up with your credit card and smile to get even someone busy with another customer to point you at the right person or line? They don't even have to stop talking to the other customer to wave you in the right general direction.
It's basically the iPhone and iPad that has blown the roof all Apple Stores around the world. They set out to craft an experience of owning a Mac and Personal Shopping was one of that. But given the massive demand for iPhone and iPad, the toughness of retail and needing to expand and move more and more product, sorry to say, Apple will be dragged more and more mainstream. That means their retail experience will become more and more mainstream.
I went for my group interview session at the Kingston store in the UK. The manager recommended me for a Personal Shopper role at Regent St. Had my interview with two managers at the Regent St store. Didn't get past that stage, subsequently the global economy went down the toilet. My interview was July 2008. Over two years later, as cool as it would have been for any Apple fan, the realities of retail will catch up with you, I don't regret not getting the job too much now. At the time I went for the interview, I only had 8 months or so left on my work and travel UK visa. That could have factored into it.
There were actually many things I found strange and off-putting about the UK. But that is for another time...
Apple Stores were originally set up to provide a proper environment for people to explore and discover all that Appley goodness that was the Mac. They were a reaction against the terrible conditions Apple products found themselves in at big box retailers and computer specialty stores: not well maintained, poorly functioning or not functioning, sales people who were clueless or outright antagonistic toward the product.
Well trained, knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff, a pleasant low pressure environment, and lots of machines all set up and wired to various peripherals allowed the curious and committed to play to their hearts content. Customer support was there for the asking. Sales were secondary to the mission.
Fast forward to today. Many more products, many in unbelievably high demand, with swarms of customers. Huge installed base brings lines to the Genius Bar for support. Quiet, contemplative, Zen-like atmosphere vanished. Replaced by WalMart vibe. Too many customers, too few demo machines, too few staff.
Even if they doubled the staff the stores would still be too crowded. There aren't enough fanboys and girls to fill all the positions anyway. Attempt to train cart-wrangler dead heads to fill the gap? How big to make a store to accommodate peak hours without being wastefully empty at other times?
Apple has a problem and they know it. You don't want to overbuild and then eat it if there is a flat spot in demand and sales. You could create separate stores for the iPhone--that would cut out half the crowd, but would hamper halo effect sales of other products. What do do? What to do?
My thought: divide the stores into semi-autonomous thirds. One part exploratorium with no sales. Another part pure retail where you go to fork over cash and pick up your box. The third part is Genius Shop where you go with your problems. Triage Lounge at the front door.
Our Apple store at the Arizona Biltmore center is always busy and lately it has driven us to online shopping. They used to have a checkout station in the center of the store but that was dropped for the iPhone POS solution. Lately though, there are very few people who are actually carrying those. There's plenty of "I can help you but I can't ring up your purchase." It's maddening to go in there with an eye for what you need off the shelf and have to wait 15-20 mins to find someone to take care of you. They need a better solution.
Apple Stores were originally set up to provide a proper environment for people to explore and discover all that Appley goodness that was the Mac. They were a reaction against the terrible conditions Apple products found themselves in at big box retailers and computer specialty stores: not well maintained, poorly functioning or not functioning, sales people who were clueless or outright antagonistic toward the product.
Well trained, knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff, a pleasant low pressure environment, and lots of machines all set up and wired to various peripherals allowed the curious and committed to play to their hearts content. Customer support was there for the asking. Sales were secondary to the mission.
Fast forward to today. Many more products, many in unbelievably high demand, with swarms of customers. Huge installed base brings lines to the Genius Bar for support. Quiet, contemplative, Zen-like atmosphere vanished. Replaced by WalMart vibe. Too many customers, too few demo machines, too few staff.
Even if they doubled the staff the stores would still be too crowded. There aren't enough fanboys and girls to fill all the positions anyway. Attempt to train cart-wrangler dead heads to fill the gap? How big to make a store to accommodate peak hours without being wastefully empty at other times?
Apple has a problem and they know it. You don't want to overbuild and then eat it if there is a flat spot in demand and sales. You could create separate stores for the iPhone--that would cut out half the crowd, but would hamper halo effect sales of other products. What do do? What to do?
My thought: divide the stores into semi-autonomous thirds. One part exploratorium with no sales. Another part pure retail where you go to fork over cash and pick up your box. The third part is Genius Shop where you go with your problems. Triage Lounge at the front door.
Apples solution seems to be sell iPads and iPhones at big box retailers because for those devices set-up and configuration are a non-issue like they are with computers. That's going to disperse a lot of the device specific sale crowd when somebody just want's it but doesn't need to play with it to make a decision.
Geez, how hard is it to hold an item up with your credit card and smile to get even someone busy with another customer to point you at the right person or line? They don't even have to stop talking to the other customer to wave you in the right general direction.
It's easy to hold your hand up, it's just impossible to even find that staff member, let alone get their attention. I had the items and the money in my hand, and could not find anyone to take my money.
Comments
I find the whole Apple Store shopping experience to be confusing and anti-customer at the best of times. Everything seems to be geared towards making an appointment rather than dropping by. I'm glad to see they're starting to pull back from that. Not once have I ever been able to find someone to take my money, I always have ended up having to put the item back and go to another store to actually buy it.
Geez, how hard is it to hold an item up with your credit card and smile to get even someone busy with another customer to point you at the right person or line? They don't even have to stop talking to the other customer to wave you in the right general direction.
This seems to further exemplify a focus on disposable consumer products instead of the mac as a platform.
Because you cannot get a personal concierge? Boy, that's a leap of epic proportions.
I went for my group interview session at the Kingston store in the UK. The manager recommended me for a Personal Shopper role at Regent St. Had my interview with two managers at the Regent St store. Didn't get past that stage, subsequently the global economy went down the toilet. My interview was July 2008. Over two years later, as cool as it would have been for any Apple fan, the realities of retail will catch up with you, I don't regret not getting the job too much now. At the time I went for the interview, I only had 8 months or so left on my work and travel UK visa. That could have factored into it.
There were actually many things I found strange and off-putting about the UK. But that is for another time...
Well trained, knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff, a pleasant low pressure environment, and lots of machines all set up and wired to various peripherals allowed the curious and committed to play to their hearts content. Customer support was there for the asking. Sales were secondary to the mission.
Fast forward to today. Many more products, many in unbelievably high demand, with swarms of customers. Huge installed base brings lines to the Genius Bar for support. Quiet, contemplative, Zen-like atmosphere vanished. Replaced by WalMart vibe. Too many customers, too few demo machines, too few staff.
Even if they doubled the staff the stores would still be too crowded. There aren't enough fanboys and girls to fill all the positions anyway. Attempt to train cart-wrangler dead heads to fill the gap? How big to make a store to accommodate peak hours without being wastefully empty at other times?
Apple has a problem and they know it. You don't want to overbuild and then eat it if there is a flat spot in demand and sales. You could create separate stores for the iPhone--that would cut out half the crowd, but would hamper halo effect sales of other products. What do do? What to do?
My thought: divide the stores into semi-autonomous thirds. One part exploratorium with no sales. Another part pure retail where you go to fork over cash and pick up your box. The third part is Genius Shop where you go with your problems. Triage Lounge at the front door.
Apple Stores were originally set up to provide a proper environment for people to explore and discover all that Appley goodness that was the Mac. They were a reaction against the terrible conditions Apple products found themselves in at big box retailers and computer specialty stores: not well maintained, poorly functioning or not functioning, sales people who were clueless or outright antagonistic toward the product.
Well trained, knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff, a pleasant low pressure environment, and lots of machines all set up and wired to various peripherals allowed the curious and committed to play to their hearts content. Customer support was there for the asking. Sales were secondary to the mission.
Fast forward to today. Many more products, many in unbelievably high demand, with swarms of customers. Huge installed base brings lines to the Genius Bar for support. Quiet, contemplative, Zen-like atmosphere vanished. Replaced by WalMart vibe. Too many customers, too few demo machines, too few staff.
Even if they doubled the staff the stores would still be too crowded. There aren't enough fanboys and girls to fill all the positions anyway. Attempt to train cart-wrangler dead heads to fill the gap? How big to make a store to accommodate peak hours without being wastefully empty at other times?
Apple has a problem and they know it. You don't want to overbuild and then eat it if there is a flat spot in demand and sales. You could create separate stores for the iPhone--that would cut out half the crowd, but would hamper halo effect sales of other products. What do do? What to do?
My thought: divide the stores into semi-autonomous thirds. One part exploratorium with no sales. Another part pure retail where you go to fork over cash and pick up your box. The third part is Genius Shop where you go with your problems. Triage Lounge at the front door.
Apples solution seems to be sell iPads and iPhones at big box retailers because for those devices set-up and configuration are a non-issue like they are with computers. That's going to disperse a lot of the device specific sale crowd when somebody just want's it but doesn't need to play with it to make a decision.
Geez, how hard is it to hold an item up with your credit card and smile to get even someone busy with another customer to point you at the right person or line? They don't even have to stop talking to the other customer to wave you in the right general direction.
It's easy to hold your hand up, it's just impossible to even find that staff member, let alone get their attention. I had the items and the money in my hand, and could not find anyone to take my money.