While she's at it, change the name "Genius Bar" to something less condescending, and add signs or something to make the stores easier to navigate. It's not intuitive that customers would just magically know to seek out the employee in the middle of the crowd to check in.
Like what?iDiocy Plus Bar? TARD-Us Bar?
Seriously though, I'm not against a name change, but I think the branding has been very effective. What I find ineffective is how you sign in at a given time. I do appreciate that they have a real person to sign you in and/or setup an appointment for you on an iPad, but I think they need to make that 'key' person(s) more visible in some way. There, "go back to the blah blah with the blah blah hair," isn't good enough. I'd also like to be able to have my iPhone sign me in when I arrive with a nice confirmation of my place in line.
He just told you! It really has become a joke, you want to spend ten bucks on an adapter and it takes. 20 minutes to get out of the store. It is an all around bad experience.
All the Apple stores I walk into no longer have a formal cash-register area. Every Apple employee standing around can ring up a sale. I just walk up to anyone standing around and they are always there ready to go.
Most of the time when I'm in the local store it is very crowded, literally a waiting line for the next rep. This is just pathetic when you need to cash out with an off the shelf item.
Yeah, I do see a lot of them just standing around at times, but they are approachable and always helpful.
My experience is that the reps are hoping and very busy.
I'm glad they are going to implement seating and have always thought how stupid it is not to have it. It was Steve Jobs' Apple not listening to the customer and thinking more about cost per square foot to cram as many people in as possible.
I don't think Steve Jobs cared one iota about cost per square foot. Show me one bit of documented evidence that he did. This is the guy who put in glass staircases that cost many $millions and who paid for the cube outside the NYC Fifth Avenue store himself.
I'm glad they are going to implement seating and have always thought how stupid it is not to have it. It was Steve Jobs' Apple not listening to the customer and thinking more about cost per square foot to cram as many people in as possible.
I have to agree with [@]zoetmb[/@] on one point. If Steve Jobs was solely profit-focused then he would not have paid for the cube, or made the tables so spacious. I think their per square foot revenue and profit are extremely high in spite of their minimalist design.
So adding seating areas equates to major physical changes?
I don't mind if she's ruffling feathers. Apple stores are very successful and profitable but in some respects are kind of stale. They haven't changed much since Ron Johnson was running the show.
yeah, if the stores are generally stand-up affairs, and you change that, it equates to a major physical change.
as for the stores not having changed much -- you say that as if it were a bad thing. yet these stores are currently so well designed theyre among the most profitable per-square-foot in the country.
yet these stores are currently so well designed theyre among the most profitable per-square-foot in the country.
Not among, but the most profit retail stores in the world per sq foot. Although it looks like Apple has competition from a company I had never heard of…
All well and good except the vast lion's share of sales and profits will come from the iPhone and the iPad far above the Apple watch.
But those products will sell well regardless now. The Watch is a new product that will need personal attention to sell. That is why there will be emphasis on them so that they can become a good selling product for the company.
Not among, but the most profit retail stores in the world per sq foot. Although it looks like Apple has competition from a company I had never heard of…
I expect this year will show a marked increase in Apple revenue and profit per sq foot.
Interesting, "Murphy, USA" is basically the little stores attached to gas stations... I guess that makes sense, since their square footage would be very small and the items inside marked up quite high.
And that's why there isn't a lounge area and maybe shouldn't be. An Apple Store isn't your office. If you make it so and you're using the machines, then someone who wants to demo a machine for the purpose of actually buying one is going to have to wait.
In general, I think the Apple stores could use some updating. When it comes down to it, what are they? Parsons tables with working computers, concrete floors and glass display panels some walls and depending on the store, stone treatment on other walls. The stand-alone stores with the high ceilings and floor to ceiling glass exterior walls look great, but they're terribly noisy inside. I remember not being able to test Siri because of the noise.
But having said that, I think there's a possibility that Ahrendts is more concerned with putting her own imprint on the stores than with changes that would substantively improve the environment. No facts to back that up - just reacting to the people leaving in her wake. Rather than changing the physical makeup of the stores, I'd rather see them improve the efficiency and quality of the Genius Bar. Maybe it should be split into two different sections: one for help and one for repairs. And maybe more resources should be devoted to on-site, quick turnaround repairs. Apple created a lot of these problems by making batteries and memory non-user replaceable in most devices. They need to have the resources to make up for that.
Ahrendts wasn't chosen to keep the stores as they were. If Tim Cook wanted to do that, he'd have promoted one of the three VPs who ran it after Browett, or he'd have made a lower profile hire if he didn't want to choose between them. He wouldn't go out and poach a CEO, buying out her $37 million unvested stock package from her last employer, if he thought she was just going to keep things the same. Burberry sales tripled in the 7 years she led them, so it's fair to say she knows what she's doing. At the same time, it is not surprising that those passed over for the job are leaving. That nearly always happens when you bring someone in from outside, or if you promote one of multiple former peers to lead a group.
Good Lord nothing has even been implemented yet and people are already predicting the demise of Ahrendts. The same person that some pegged as a possible future Apple CEO. It's not surprising at all that some long timers leave when someone new comes in. What's wrong with getting new blood and fresh thinking now and then?
She's ruffling some feathers, but the stores need some changes. It can get noisy and hectic in the stores at times. Take this as a sign that there will be a further diversification of the product line long term (e.g. more wearables). It sounds like she wants the stores to promote an image of luxury.
I think it's more to do with ? watch and Beats headphones; she's adapting the stores to fit new products. She has no control over the kinda of new products Apple makes. Her job is to best run the store with the new ? products ? decides it wants to ship. Though she probably has some control over the kinds of third party products ? stocks. These changes are her attemp to fix weaknesses in the stores to make them even better.
Call me Ishmael, but I think Angela Ahrendts was actually hired as a replacement for Tim once he retires. Seamless succession plans are everything at very large companies and you don't hire a "store manager" at the salary she's making.
I think it all depends on which stores. For the independent location stores (which are more roomy), minor adjustments plus the necessary changes to accommodate the Watch is fine. For those locations in places like malls, that's something different.
I live in a county next to one of the biggest markets out there. The closest Apple store is in a mall 25 miles away from where I live. You walk into the store and it's long and thin. Looooooong and thin. And you have to weave your way thru all the browsing people up front to get to the clusterbleep Genius Bar area. And the main checkout counter is beyond that.
Given that these are unadjustable footprints due to them being in malls, there can most definitely be room for improvement in layout and design.
There is a new, large, upscale, outdoor shopping plaza (REI, Whole Foods, 16-screen theater, etc) within just a few miles of where I live which would be a perfect location for an independent Apple store which could serve the west end of the county. Wish Apple would add a well-designed footprint there. One can always hope.
Call me Ishmael, but I think Angela Ahrendts was actually hired as a replacement for Tim once he retires. Seamless succession plans are everything at very large companies and you don't hire a "store manager" at the salary she's making.
Possibly, but she isn't much younger. Also, her 2014 salary was inflated because she was given a doubly large restricted stock award to compensate for the fact that she left $37 million on the table by leaving Burberry.
They need to consider upsizing many of their stores. Right now the local store is often standing room only which sucks, some of these changes couldn't happen in that store at all.
It seems to be underway. The Manhattan Village Store used to be one of the worst I had been in, but they expanded before Christmas and really change the tempo dramatically.
I generally don't like change, but I think the Apple Store motif is overdone at this point. The original clarity of the vision: iPods on the right, Macs on the left-- is gone. I actually wish they had more accessories; there are simple things that I need to support my computer that aren't easily available retail... without going to a BestBuy.
The merchandising is going to have to be re-thought; you can't just say "messy stuff in back." I am very curious what Apple's vision is here; I can't see it being easy to change.
Was in the Santa Monica store fairly recently, and was surprised at how good the noise made things feel-- "This is what people are talking about!" Too bad the air conditioning and lighting were poorly done.
Apple Stores seem fine to me and I've been to a dozen of them. Lately, they have been changing the processes about pickups and returns, which was really good. Maybe it was a Christmas thing. For instance, if you bought online to pick up in store, there was a pickup area. And it took 2 seconds. Then there was an area for setup of your phone or whatever, if that is what you wanted. I did recently do a trade-in of an iPhone 6 for a 6+ and it literally took about 3 minutes to do the whole transaction. It was very pleasant and very efficient.
Change for change's sake? New executive in town, got to make some changes. This happens all of the time in corporate America. The pendulum swings this way, then that way. Are we going to credit these high-level executives with brilliance? With swinging a wand and making things all wonderful due to their genius?
Skeptical. See how Ron Johnson affected JC Penny?
Heck, Apple could just take over some Radio Shack stores. Not all of them, but a few here and there.
I don't see Ahrendts making the same mistake as Johnson. Johnson's problem is that he forgot he was returning to the world of mid-market retail, where every one of his competitors slaps ridiculous MSRPs only to have constant rotating "40% off" sales. He tried selling everything at a lower price year-round without discounting, sort of like how everything at Apple stores sells at MSRP. It turns out that people buying clothing and home goods would rather go to Macy's or Kohl's to get "40% off" a $100 sweater than pay the full $60 MSRP at JC Penney. He also spent a lot of money setting up iPad displays, and getting rid of some of their more popular brands in a bid to go upscale. In other words, he tried to turn JC Penney into an Apple Store.
I don't see Ahrendts trying to turn Apple Stores into Burberry. Sure, she'll take some cues, but she seems to know enough not to mess too much with success, but to do enough so that the stores look refreshed and better suited to promoting their newest product line. Witness the new blue shirts. They have a subtly updated look and are a bit more fashionable, but it isn't as if she introduced pashmina scarves for the women employees or dress pants for men.
I worry that too many visionaries that made Apple successful are being replaced by generic executives. Inevitable, I guess. You can't expect to win the lottery twice.
Comments
Like what?iDiocy Plus Bar? TARD-Us Bar?
Seriously though, I'm not against a name change, but I think the branding has been very effective. What I find ineffective is how you sign in at a given time. I do appreciate that they have a real person to sign you in and/or setup an appointment for you on an iPad, but I think they need to make that 'key' person(s) more visible in some way. There, "go back to the blah blah with the blah blah hair," isn't good enough. I'd also like to be able to have my iPhone sign me in when I arrive with a nice confirmation of my place in line.
My experience is that the reps are hoping and very busy.
Quite a lot of angst in here over a few rumored seats.
I'm glad they are going to implement seating and have always thought how stupid it is not to have it. It was Steve Jobs' Apple not listening to the customer and thinking more about cost per square foot to cram as many people in as possible.
I don't think Steve Jobs cared one iota about cost per square foot. Show me one bit of documented evidence that he did. This is the guy who put in glass staircases that cost many $millions and who paid for the cube outside the NYC Fifth Avenue store himself.
I have to agree with [@]zoetmb[/@] on one point. If Steve Jobs was solely profit-focused then he would not have paid for the cube, or made the tables so spacious. I think their per square foot revenue and profit are extremely high in spite of their minimalist design.
I'm also glad to hear about the seating.
So adding seating areas equates to major physical changes?
I don't mind if she's ruffling feathers. Apple stores are very successful and profitable but in some respects are kind of stale. They haven't changed much since Ron Johnson was running the show.
yeah, if the stores are generally stand-up affairs, and you change that, it equates to a major physical change.
as for the stores not having changed much -- you say that as if it were a bad thing. yet these stores are currently so well designed theyre among the most profitable per-square-foot in the country.
Not among, but the most profit retail stores in the world per sq foot. Although it looks like Apple has competition from a company I had never heard of…
I expect this year will show a marked increase in Apple revenue and profit per sq foot.
But those products will sell well regardless now. The Watch is a new product that will need personal attention to sell. That is why there will be emphasis on them so that they can become a good selling product for the company.
Not among, but the most profit retail stores in the world per sq foot. Although it looks like Apple has competition from a company I had never heard of…
I expect this year will show a marked increase in Apple revenue and profit per sq foot.
Interesting, "Murphy, USA" is basically the little stores attached to gas stations... I guess that makes sense, since their square footage would be very small and the items inside marked up quite high.
Ahrendts wasn't chosen to keep the stores as they were. If Tim Cook wanted to do that, he'd have promoted one of the three VPs who ran it after Browett, or he'd have made a lower profile hire if he didn't want to choose between them. He wouldn't go out and poach a CEO, buying out her $37 million unvested stock package from her last employer, if he thought she was just going to keep things the same. Burberry sales tripled in the 7 years she led them, so it's fair to say she knows what she's doing. At the same time, it is not surprising that those passed over for the job are leaving. That nearly always happens when you bring someone in from outside, or if you promote one of multiple former peers to lead a group.
I think it's more to do with ? watch and Beats headphones; she's adapting the stores to fit new products. She has no control over the kinda of new products Apple makes. Her job is to best run the store with the new ? products ? decides it wants to ship. Though she probably has some control over the kinds of third party products ? stocks. These changes are her attemp to fix weaknesses in the stores to make them even better.
Call me Ishmael, but I think Angela Ahrendts was actually hired as a replacement for Tim once he retires. Seamless succession plans are everything at very large companies and you don't hire a "store manager" at the salary she's making.
The Apple Store is just not the right environment for trying on a watch.
I think it all depends on which stores. For the independent location stores (which are more roomy), minor adjustments plus the necessary changes to accommodate the Watch is fine. For those locations in places like malls, that's something different.
I live in a county next to one of the biggest markets out there. The closest Apple store is in a mall 25 miles away from where I live. You walk into the store and it's long and thin. Looooooong and thin. And you have to weave your way thru all the browsing people up front to get to the clusterbleep Genius Bar area. And the main checkout counter is beyond that.
Given that these are unadjustable footprints due to them being in malls, there can most definitely be room for improvement in layout and design.
There is a new, large, upscale, outdoor shopping plaza (REI, Whole Foods, 16-screen theater, etc) within just a few miles of where I live which would be a perfect location for an independent Apple store which could serve the west end of the county. Wish Apple would add a well-designed footprint there. One can always hope.
Call me Ishmael, but I think Angela Ahrendts was actually hired as a replacement for Tim once he retires. Seamless succession plans are everything at very large companies and you don't hire a "store manager" at the salary she's making.
Possibly, but she isn't much younger. Also, her 2014 salary was inflated because she was given a doubly large restricted stock award to compensate for the fact that she left $37 million on the table by leaving Burberry.
It seems to be underway. The Manhattan Village Store used to be one of the worst I had been in, but they expanded before Christmas and really change the tempo dramatically.
I generally don't like change, but I think the Apple Store motif is overdone at this point. The original clarity of the vision: iPods on the right, Macs on the left-- is gone. I actually wish they had more accessories; there are simple things that I need to support my computer that aren't easily available retail... without going to a BestBuy.
The merchandising is going to have to be re-thought; you can't just say "messy stuff in back." I am very curious what Apple's vision is here; I can't see it being easy to change.
Was in the Santa Monica store fairly recently, and was surprised at how good the noise made things feel-- "This is what people are talking about!" Too bad the air conditioning and lighting were poorly done.
Apple Stores seem fine to me and I've been to a dozen of them. Lately, they have been changing the processes about pickups and returns, which was really good. Maybe it was a Christmas thing. For instance, if you bought online to pick up in store, there was a pickup area. And it took 2 seconds. Then there was an area for setup of your phone or whatever, if that is what you wanted. I did recently do a trade-in of an iPhone 6 for a 6+ and it literally took about 3 minutes to do the whole transaction. It was very pleasant and very efficient.
Change for change's sake? New executive in town, got to make some changes. This happens all of the time in corporate America. The pendulum swings this way, then that way. Are we going to credit these high-level executives with brilliance? With swinging a wand and making things all wonderful due to their genius?
Skeptical. See how Ron Johnson affected JC Penny?
Heck, Apple could just take over some Radio Shack stores. Not all of them, but a few here and there.
I don't see Ahrendts making the same mistake as Johnson. Johnson's problem is that he forgot he was returning to the world of mid-market retail, where every one of his competitors slaps ridiculous MSRPs only to have constant rotating "40% off" sales. He tried selling everything at a lower price year-round without discounting, sort of like how everything at Apple stores sells at MSRP. It turns out that people buying clothing and home goods would rather go to Macy's or Kohl's to get "40% off" a $100 sweater than pay the full $60 MSRP at JC Penney. He also spent a lot of money setting up iPad displays, and getting rid of some of their more popular brands in a bid to go upscale. In other words, he tried to turn JC Penney into an Apple Store.
I don't see Ahrendts trying to turn Apple Stores into Burberry. Sure, she'll take some cues, but she seems to know enough not to mess too much with success, but to do enough so that the stores look refreshed and better suited to promoting their newest product line. Witness the new blue shirts. They have a subtly updated look and are a bit more fashionable, but it isn't as if she introduced pashmina scarves for the women employees or dress pants for men.
It's always struck me that selling the Apple Watch will be a real problem for Apple.
The Apple Store is just not the right environment for trying on a watch.
That's probably one of the areas she is going to tackle.