While there are a number of things Apple does well, the retail experience has slipped in my recent experience. In both West St. Louis and Houston Galleria in the last month, I have visited the store wanting to make a purchase only to find multiple employees conversing with each other but not waiting on customers. In both situations there were people other than myself wanting to make purchases but could not get what clearly appeared to be personal conversations ended to attend to customers. When I flagged one down in Houston, he handed me off to someone who had been working with someone else and resumed his conversation. After having a very similar experience in St. Louis, I expressed my frustration to the person who finally took my transaction and he stated that people have assigned zones. Don’t know if it is a local management issue or not, but unclear why you would let a client wanting to make a purchase in one zone wait when you have available personnel at a table shooting the breeze in their zone. As an Apple shareholder and fan of the products, it isn’t presently the type of experience it used to be.
@macwhiz ; When you have an issue, the Apple Store becomes a Kafka-esque nightmare. Even with an appointment, you'll be facing a wait. You'll have to somehow figure out who the one person in the store who can check you in might be, and where they are; there's no signage or particular uniform to make this clear. They'll shuffle you off to someone else, who will eventually take you to a chair at the crowded Genius Bar to wait for yet another person to triage you, and eventually you'll get yet another person to take care of your problem.
That is, if they have the parts on hand in the right box. I had a failed iPad Smart Keyboard. The store I went to was out of replacement keyboards in repair boxes in the back room, so I was told I'd have to come back in next week when they got more of them. That's a two-hour round trip for me. They couldn't ship the replacement to my home, because I'd come into the store to initiate the process. They couldn't give me one of the Smart Keyboards sitting on the display shelf, because it was in retail packaging, not repair packaging.
I've never had any amount of confusion figuring out who to talk to. You literally can get checked in by nearly anyone on the floor. They direct you appropriately to where to wait and take notes about your appearance so your assigned rep can easily find you. YOU don't need any signage, that's the whole point. If you were really the whiz you claim to be, you'd know that you could've figured this out over chat online with a rep and potentially done this whole exchange without leaving your home.
@retrogusto ; I have to agree with others here in saying that the Apple Store experience was probably better under Ron Johnson—at least my own experience in the U.S. I bought a new XS a few weeks ago, and went in knowing exactly what I wanted, but it seemed unnecessarily slow and convoluted. I walked in and looked around for a free sales person, couldn’t find one so I waited next to one who was talking to someone else, when he stopped talking to them I told him I wanted a phone and knew exactly what I wanted, he then put me on a waiting list to talk to somebody else who could actually sell me a phone, that guy arrived after about 10 minutes, I told him what I wanted, he then ordered it from somebody else who brought the phone out after 5-8 minutes (while the sales guy gave me unsolicited demos of some of his favorite apps), the guy started to ring me up and I pointed out he had hadn’t brought out the headphone dongle I had also requested, so we went together to get that, then he rang me up and I paid with Apple Pay. It took over a half hour, which was about a half hour longer than it should have, and messed up the rest of my tightly scheduled day.
You did it wrong. You should've ordered online and have it available for pickup at your local store when you walk in. They've made this all so much easier to do this way, especially because as you've found, the stores are fucking busy as hell. Why wait in line if you don't have to?
@6502 ; The rest that you mention are just minor iterative updates that would happen whether she was there or not. I never said I have a problem with a woman earning more than I do, why would you assume that?
It's cute that you think a retail organization of over 500 stores employing 70,000 people in 27 countries is just something that runs itself.
As for your second point, you literally said:
Remind me how she is deserving of this? She is simply the token woman at Apple.
If you don't see the inherent sexism in that statement about one of the most successful retail executives in the world, I'm not sure anyone here can help you. But you're 100% wrong.
@6502 ; The rest that you mention are just minor iterative updates that would happen whether she was there or not. I never said I have a problem with a woman earning more than I do, why would you assume that?
It's cute that you think a retail organization of over 500 stores employing 70,000 people in 27 countries is just something that runs itself.
As for your second point, you literally said:
Remind me how she is deserving of this? She is simply the token woman at Apple.
If you don't see the inherent sexism in that statement about one of the most successful retail executives in the world, I'm not sure anyone here can help you. But you're 100% wrong.
It's cute that you think Angela is changing light bulbs at the apple stores. The apple stores do run themselves, just like your engine does after turning the key. Of course all that had to be set up but that was done by Ron Johnson not Angela. Besides, Angela was not hired to manage the day to day operations of the apple store but to plan the long term strategy, of which she's done nothing. The apple stores are fundamentally no different than they were when Johnson set them up.
I'm sorry you're a SJW snowflake and can't handle the truth. Apple was heavily criticized by investors and (mostly) the press about not having enough women in the higher ups. So they went out on a women hiring spree. Angela even admitted in an interview that she told Tim Cook that she's not very good at retail but just happened to hire good people. No man would ever get hired in retail after saying that. Same for Lisa Jackson, she just recycles the same slides showing the iPhone to be highly recyclable and bromine free, etc... She was hired more for her Obama connections than anything else. Both these women make a crap load of money for doing next to nothing.
@6502 ; It's cute that you think Angela is changing light bulbs at the apple stores. The apple stores do run themselves, just like your engine does after turning the key. Of course all that had to be set up but that was done by Ron Johnson not Angela. Besides, Angela was not hired to manage the day to day operations of the apple store but to plan the long term strategy, of which she's done nothing. The apple stores are fundamentally no different than they were when Johnson set them up.
I'm sorry you're a SJW snowflake and can't handle the truth. Apple was heavily criticized by investors and (mostly) the press about not having enough women in the higher ups. So they went out on a women hiring spree. Angela even admitted in an interview that she told Tim Cook that she's not very good at retail but just happened to hire good people. No man would ever get hired in retail after saying that. Same for Lisa Jackson, she just recycles the same slides showing the iPhone to be highly recyclable and bromine free, etc... She was hired more for her Obama connections than anything else. Both these women make a crap load of money for doing next to nothing.
Of course the SVP of Retail doesn't do day-to-day store management, just as the VP of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives doesn't just do Keynote presentations. Just because you can't see what they do behind the scenes doesn't mean they're not doing anything. I mean, you could read about their list of responsibilities or impressive credentials on their Apple Leadership pages. But you don't care, because they're only there in your mind because of a "women hiring spree" which is 100% sexist hogwash.
@6502 ; It's cute that you think Angela is changing light bulbs at the apple stores. The apple stores do run themselves, just like your engine does after turning the key. Of course all that had to be set up but that was done by Ron Johnson not Angela. Besides, Angela was not hired to manage the day to day operations of the apple store but to plan the long term strategy, of which she's done nothing. The apple stores are fundamentally no different than they were when Johnson set them up.
I'm sorry you're a SJW snowflake and can't handle the truth. Apple was heavily criticized by investors and (mostly) the press about not having enough women in the higher ups. So they went out on a women hiring spree. Angela even admitted in an interview that she told Tim Cook that she's not very good at retail but just happened to hire good people. No man would ever get hired in retail after saying that. Same for Lisa Jackson, she just recycles the same slides showing the iPhone to be highly recyclable and bromine free, etc... She was hired more for her Obama connections than anything else. Both these women make a crap load of money for doing next to nothing.
Of course the SVP of Retail doesn't do day-to-day store management, just as the VP of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives doesn't just do Keynote presentations. Just because you can't see what they do behind the scenes doesn't mean they're not doing anything. I mean, you could read about their list of responsibilities or impressive credentials on their Apple Leadership pages. But you don't care, because they're only there in your mind because of a "women hiring spree" which is 100% sexist hogwash.
Retail is the most outward facing aspect of Apple with the exception of their products. Surely we should see some positive change in Apple retail since Angela's hiring indicative of her $100 M salary. But no, there's been no significant changes since Ron Johnson started it. In fact, it's gotten worse as it's always chaotic when I go there. I didn't know she was being compensated solely based on her credentials as you say. If there were a similar level of changes to iOS, Craig would have been shown the door long ago. Women are almost always treated with kid gloves; I've seen this throughout my career.
Apple is the most profitable company in the world, why can't they pay their retail employees a decent wage? I'll tell you why, because it would cut into the executives bonuses.
But, I get it. You're a yes-man, you stick to the status quo and never question or criticize anything and call it sexist when others do. If that helps you get through life, then good for you. For me, I'll continue to point out mediocrity and poor performance as I see it.
@retrogusto ; I have to agree with others here in saying that the Apple Store experience was probably better under Ron Johnson—at least my own experience in the U.S. I bought a new XS a few weeks ago, and went in knowing exactly what I wanted, but it seemed unnecessarily slow and convoluted. I walked in and looked around for a free sales person, couldn’t find one so I waited next to one who was talking to someone else, when he stopped talking to them I told him I wanted a phone and knew exactly what I wanted, he then put me on a waiting list to talk to somebody else who could actually sell me a phone, that guy arrived after about 10 minutes, I told him what I wanted, he then ordered it from somebody else who brought the phone out after 5-8 minutes (while the sales guy gave me unsolicited demos of some of his favorite apps), the guy started to ring me up and I pointed out he had hadn’t brought out the headphone dongle I had also requested, so we went together to get that, then he rang me up and I paid with Apple Pay. It took over a half hour, which was about a half hour longer than it should have, and messed up the rest of my tightly scheduled day.
You did it wrong. You should've ordered online and have it available for pickup at your local store when you walk in. They've made this all so much easier to do this way, especially because as you've found, the stores are fucking busy as hell. Why wait in line if you don't have to?
So Apple Stores are not actually stores, they're just pickup locations? Ok.
This woman makes $100 of millions, dresses in thousand dollar outfits and has made no material changes to Apple retail since Ron Johnson. And, Apple retail employees still make lousy wages. Remind me how she is deserving of this? She is simply the token woman at Apple.
I see that you really only care to complain about someone you obviously know nothing about. If you ever feel the desire to grow as a sentient being, watch her TED talk, you might learn something.
@6502 ; So Apple Stores are not actually stores, they're just pickup locations? Ok.
That's not what I said. I said if you knew exactly what you needed, you could order online and pick up at the store without waiting in line. It's a huge advantage over going through the process that the OP described. You can chalk up this improvement in Apple stores to Ms. Ahrendts tenure, even though she doesn't do anything in your mind.
@retrogusto ; I have to agree with others here in saying that the Apple Store experience was probably better under Ron Johnson—at least my own experience in the U.S. I bought a new XS a few weeks ago, and went in knowing exactly what I wanted, but it seemed unnecessarily slow and convoluted. I walked in and looked around for a free sales person, couldn’t find one so I waited next to one who was talking to someone else, when he stopped talking to them I told him I wanted a phone and knew exactly what I wanted, he then put me on a waiting list to talk to somebody else who could actually sell me a phone, that guy arrived after about 10 minutes, I told him what I wanted, he then ordered it from somebody else who brought the phone out after 5-8 minutes (while the sales guy gave me unsolicited demos of some of his favorite apps), the guy started to ring me up and I pointed out he had hadn’t brought out the headphone dongle I had also requested, so we went together to get that, then he rang me up and I paid with Apple Pay. It took over a half hour, which was about a half hour longer than it should have, and messed up the rest of my tightly scheduled day.
You did it wrong. You should've ordered online and have it available for pickup at your local store when you walk in. They've made this all so much easier to do this way, especially because as you've found, the stores are fucking busy as hell. Why wait in line if you don't have to?
So Apple Stores are not actually stores, they're just pickup locations? Ok.
While there are a number of things Apple does well, the retail experience has slipped in my recent experience. In both West St. Louis and Houston Galleria in the last month, I have visited the store wanting to make a purchase only to find multiple employees conversing with each other but not waiting on customers. In both situations there were people other than myself wanting to make purchases but could not get what clearly appeared to be personal conversations ended to attend to customers. When I flagged one down in Houston, he handed me off to someone who had been working with someone else and resumed his conversation. After having a very similar experience in St. Louis, I expressed my frustration to the person who finally took my transaction and he stated that people have assigned zones. Don’t know if it is a local management issue or not, but unclear why you would let a client wanting to make a purchase in one zone wait when you have available personnel at a table shooting the breeze in their zone. As an Apple shareholder and fan of the products, it isn’t presently the type of experience it used to be.
Yep they stay in their zones. That’s a management issue. That’s where these issues start.
@6502 ; So Apple Stores are not actually stores, they're just pickup locations? Ok.
That's not what I said. I said if you knew exactly what you needed, you could order online and pick up at the store without waiting in line. It's a huge advantage over going through the process that the OP described. You can chalk up this improvement in Apple stores to Ms. Ahrendts tenure, even though she doesn't do anything in your mind.
Wow, buy online pick up in stores. So Angela invented that? How did Target, Walmart, BestBuy, Frys, HomeDepot and countless other stores figure that out without a $100M executive? And it's a more pleasant experience at the other stores.
This woman makes $100 of millions, dresses in thousand dollar outfits and has made no material changes to Apple retail since Ron Johnson. And, Apple retail employees still make lousy wages. Remind me how she is deserving of this? She is simply the token woman at Apple.
I see that you really only care to complain about someone you obviously know nothing about. If you ever feel the desire to grow as a sentient being, watch her TED talk, you might learn something.
The fact I can actually distinguish between good and poor performance I guess makes me a sentient being. TED talks are what non-intellectuals like to refer to to make themselves sound intellectual.
This woman makes $100 of millions, dresses in thousand dollar outfits and has made no material changes to Apple retail since Ron Johnson. And, Apple retail employees still make lousy wages. Remind me how she is deserving of this? She is simply the token woman at Apple.
I'd suggest you look at this page: https://www.apple.com/ca/leadership/ There's at least five highly placed women at Apple. That's not even counting the thousands of women in lower positions in the management tree.
I never said there aren't women employees at Apple. Angela is the token woman they drag out the most to say "look, we have women in leadership at Apple". She's accomplished nothing of significance at Apple, yet brings in a massive salary and pays retail employees crap. The only other one they drag out is Lisa Jackson who says the same thing every time on how environmentally friendly their products are. Yeah, we get it. And wow, Apple has a female head of HR; I've rarely seen a company that doesn't have a female head of HR.
Yes, the article says nothing. What enlightened you so much in the article? Ron Johnson is the hero of the Apple Store, plain and simple. Angela has done nothing significant.
The article says nothing? She has accomplished nothing of significance? So you read the following (just one example from the article) and said "yeah, so what, I already knew that and anyone would have done exactly the same thing"?
The short answer is technology. At 506 stores around the world, Apple staff start their day with an app called Hello, which briefs them on the most important “need to knows” of the day, often featuring videos from Ahrendts and her team. A second app, Loop, functions as an internal social network where staff can share learnings with each other. “Someone might be selling more phones than anybody else and we ask them to share that on a 20-second video on Loop,” Ahrendts explains. “We use auto-translate and everybody in the world can see what Tom in Regent Street is doing. It’s a huge unlock, just getting all the stores to talk to one another.”
This approach to internal communication – using human-touch internal video conferences – helped employees buy into Ahrendts’s vision at Burberry. The same formula appears to be working at Apple. “Many retailers have become so big they’re removed from their own employees. They are lucky if they keep more than 20 per cent every year. We keep nearly 90 per cent of our full-time employees. We moved 20 per cent of the people in retail last year – they got promoted, took on new positions.”
As to whether anyone is worth $100 million per year... I suppose those billions of dollars in profits have to go somewhere.
Apple had high retention rate long before Angela took over retail, she had nothing to do with that. Working in retail is such an abhorrent experience that it doesn't take much to have a decent retention rate.
"As to whether anyone is worth $100 million per year... I suppose those billions of dollars in profits have to go somewhere." Really? That's the best intellectual response you can come up with? How about reduce prices so more people can afford Apple products instead of just one person benefiting with an outrageous payout?
In my opinion (and I freely admit I’m not a mind reader) Cook hired Ahrendts to eventually replace him, but I doubt she’s getting the experience she’d need to run the entire operation from the retail side.
While there are a number of things Apple does well, the retail experience has slipped in my recent experience. In both West St. Louis and Houston Galleria in the last month, I have visited the store wanting to make a purchase only to find multiple employees conversing with each other but not waiting on customers. In both situations there were people other than myself wanting to make purchases but could not get what clearly appeared to be personal conversations ended to attend to customers. When I flagged one down in Houston, he handed me off to someone who had been working with someone else and resumed his conversation. After having a very similar experience in St. Louis, I expressed my frustration to the person who finally took my transaction and he stated that people have assigned zones. Don’t know if it is a local management issue or not, but unclear why you would let a client wanting to make a purchase in one zone wait when you have available personnel at a table shooting the breeze in their zone. As an Apple shareholder and fan of the products, it isn’t presently the type of experience it used to be.
I have to agree. A customer entering the store will see 2-3 people before settling with a person to make a purchase. All of that time narrowing down what is needed obscures the purpose of the store, which is to make a sale and get the satisfied customer on their way. Apple Stores need to get back to basics with fewer and better trained employees in the stores. There’s a lot of pointless wandering around and waiting right now.
@6502 ; The rest that you mention are just minor iterative updates that would happen whether she was there or not. I never said I have a problem with a woman earning more than I do, why would you assume that?
It's cute that you think a retail organization of over 500 stores employing 70,000 people in 27 countries is just something that runs itself.
As for your second point, you literally said:
Remind me how she is deserving of this? She is simply the token woman at Apple.
If you don't see the inherent sexism in that statement about one of the most successful retail executives in the world, I'm not sure anyone here can help you. But you're 100% wrong.
It's cute that you think Angela is changing light bulbs at the apple stores. The apple stores do run themselves, just like your engine does after turning the key. Of course all that had to be set up but that was done by Ron Johnson not Angela. Besides, Angela was not hired to manage the day to day operations of the apple store but to plan the long term strategy, of which she's done nothing. The apple stores are fundamentally no different than they were when Johnson set them up.
I'm sorry you're a SJW snowflake and can't handle the truth. Apple was heavily criticized by investors and (mostly) the press about not having enough women in the higher ups. So they went out on a women hiring spree. Angela even admitted in an interview that she told Tim Cook that she's not very good at retail but just happened to hire good people. No man would ever get hired in retail after saying that. Same for Lisa Jackson, she just recycles the same slides showing the iPhone to be highly recyclable and bromine free, etc... She was hired more for her Obama connections than anything else. Both these women make a crap load of money for doing next to nothing.
Do you enjoy being a troll?
Everything you've said in this thread is either flat out wrong or moves the goalpost of the "debate."
WTF is arguing whether AA is better or worse than Ron Johnson? That's like saying (as trolls do) that Tim Cook isn't the CEO that Jobs was. Guess what? Jobs is dead and Ron Johnson quit. Your arguments that "she's done nothing" and that the retail experience is worse are easily countered. If you read the article it lists of number of significant changes that have happened on her watch--at hear initiative. To name just one more example, the "flagship store" concept was greatly expanded. The original Apple Stores were mostly cookie cutters. Now there are an increasing number of distinctive mega stores that are as much community centers than stores (to improve the brand and help people understand and appreciate the Apple way). If you believe the story, she personally identified the Carnegie Library Apple Store possibility. That was an outside-the-box idea; it's a quasi-public building that was sitting mostly unused on a great site, not it wasn't being pitched to developers as a retail possibility.
If you want to know more about AA and why Apple poached her from Burberry and why she is so well compensated and respected by the other Apple execs, how about you spend 10 minutes Googling her name and reading just a few of the articles. That fact that no one has personally invited you to spend a month in her shoes seeing exactly what decisions she makes and how she empowers/motivates others to perform isn't my problem. I, for one, trust that Tim Cook and others don't just trot her out as a pretty face to assuage "investors and the press" who want to see more women in positions of authority. She has experiences, insights, and a track record of success in areas that he Apple colleagues don't have. Diversity means bringing together different skills and perspectives to create something better than would be possible from a team of clones. I'm sorry that you don't get this.
@6502 ; So Apple Stores are not actually stores, they're just pickup locations? Ok.
That's not what I said. I said if you knew exactly what you needed, you could order online and pick up at the store without waiting in line. It's a huge advantage over going through the process that the OP described. You can chalk up this improvement in Apple stores to Ms. Ahrendts tenure, even though she doesn't do anything in your mind.
Wow, buy online pick up in stores. So Angela invented that? How did Target, Walmart, BestBuy, Frys, HomeDepot and countless other stores figure that out without a $100M executive? And it's a more pleasant experience at the other stores.
Another lie. I made 3 buy-online/pickup-in-person purchases in December, one at Walmart, one at Apple, and one at a smaller store. The Walmart experience was slow and dreary and involved tedious paperwork; the mall store was a confused mess as they couldn't find the item I purchased or even a record of it (they eventually found it under the counter were an employee from the earlier shift had stashed it). At the Apple Store (which was PACKED), I walked up to a Apple-shirted person (or perhaps he approached me), I said I am picking up a phone, I showed them a barcode on my phone or maybe just my idea, they said please wait over there, and a couple minutes later someone walked up to me with my phone and asked if I wanted a bag. Done. To say that's it's a more pleasant experience at other places is insanity (or just trollishness).
@6502 ; The rest that you mention are just minor iterative updates that would happen whether she was there or not. I never said I have a problem with a woman earning more than I do, why would you assume that?
It's cute that you think a retail organization of over 500 stores employing 70,000 people in 27 countries is just something that runs itself.
As for your second point, you literally said:
Remind me how she is deserving of this? She is simply the token woman at Apple.
If you don't see the inherent sexism in that statement about one of the most successful retail executives in the world, I'm not sure anyone here can help you. But you're 100% wrong.
It's cute that you think Angela is changing light bulbs at the apple stores. The apple stores do run themselves, just like your engine does after turning the key. Of course all that had to be set up but that was done by Ron Johnson not Angela. Besides, Angela was not hired to manage the day to day operations of the apple store but to plan the long term strategy, of which she's done nothing. The apple stores are fundamentally no different than they were when Johnson set them up.
I'm sorry you're a SJW snowflake and can't handle the truth. Apple was heavily criticized by investors and (mostly) the press about not having enough women in the higher ups. So they went out on a women hiring spree. Angela even admitted in an interview that she told Tim Cook that she's not very good at retail but just happened to hire good people. No man would ever get hired in retail after saying that. Same for Lisa Jackson, she just recycles the same slides showing the iPhone to be highly recyclable and bromine free, etc... She was hired more for her Obama connections than anything else. Both these women make a crap load of money for doing next to nothing.
Do you enjoy being a troll?
Everything you've said in this thread is either flat out wrong or moves the goalpost of the "debate."
WTF is arguing whether AA is better or worse than Ron Johnson? That's like saying (as trolls do) that Tim Cook isn't the CEO that Jobs was. Guess what? Jobs is dead and Ron Johnson quit. Your arguments that "she's done nothing" and that the retail experience is worse are easily countered. If you read the article it lists of number of significant changes that have happened on her watch--at hear initiative. To name just one more example, the "flagship store" concept was greatly expanded. The original Apple Stores were mostly cookie cutters. Now there are an increasing number of distinctive mega stores that are as much community centers than stores (to improve the brand and help people understand and appreciate the Apple way). If you believe the story, she personally identified the Carnegie Library Apple Store possibility. That was an outside-the-box idea; it's a quasi-public building that was sitting mostly unused on a great site, not it wasn't being pitched to developers as a retail possibility.
If you want to know more about AA and why Apple poached her from Burberry and why she is so well compensated and respected by the other Apple execs, how about you spend 10 minutes Googling her name and reading just a few of the articles. That fact that no one has personally invited you to spend a month in her shoes seeing exactly what decisions she makes and how she empowers/motivates others to perform isn't my problem. I, for one, trust that Tim Cook and others don't just trot her out as a pretty face to assuage "investors and the press" who want to see more women in positions of authority. She has experiences, insights, and a track record of success in areas that he Apple colleagues don't have. Diversity means bringing together different skills and perspectives to create something better than would be possible from a team of clones. I'm sorry that you don't get this.
If speaking the truth is being a troll, then yes, I guess I do enjoy being one. I can't say it more succinctly than this: she has made $100's of millions with little to nothing to show for it (all while her employees make crap). I could care less about the Carnegie Library Apple store. I'm not going to travel to DC to see an apple store, I know what an iPhone, iPad and Macbook look like. It's not a museum. Apple stores are not community centers; you can't book one for weddings or meetings, and who would want to hang out all day at an Apple store? It's ludicrous. I've read many articles on her, including the one where she flat out told Cook that "I'm not good at retail, I just hired really good people". You try that at your next interview. And, don't forget, Tim also hired John Browett, so he doesn't always have the best judgement. Apple was routinely bashed in the press for not hiring enough women and the next thing you know they're trotting out Angela and Bozoma. Diversity means hiring people based on their gender and skin color first and talent level second. I'd rather hire people based on their talent, irrespective of their gender, race or religion.
@6502 ; So Apple Stores are not actually stores, they're just pickup locations? Ok.
That's not what I said. I said if you knew exactly what you needed, you could order online and pick up at the store without waiting in line. It's a huge advantage over going through the process that the OP described. You can chalk up this improvement in Apple stores to Ms. Ahrendts tenure, even though she doesn't do anything in your mind.
Wow, buy online pick up in stores. So Angela invented that? How did Target, Walmart, BestBuy, Frys, HomeDepot and countless other stores figure that out without a $100M executive? And it's a more pleasant experience at the other stores.
Another lie. I made 3 buy-online/pickup-in-person purchases in December, one at Walmart, one at Apple, and one at a smaller store. The Walmart experience was slow and dreary and involved tedious paperwork; the mall store was a confused mess as they couldn't find the item I purchased or even a record of it (they eventually found it under the counter were an employee from the earlier shift had stashed it). At the Apple Store (which was PACKED), I walked up to a Apple-shirted person (or perhaps he approached me), I said I am picking up a phone, I showed them a barcode on my phone or maybe just my idea, they said please wait over there, and a couple minutes later someone walked up to me with my phone and asked if I wanted a bag. Done. To say that's it's a more pleasant experience at other places is insanity (or just trollishness).
I recently bought things online at walmart and homedepot for store pickup. Walked in the store, went to the pickup desk, showed them the barcode on my phone, got my item and was out in a few minutes. So I guess these stores cracked the code that it took Apple $100M to figure out. I went to get a sim card at an apple store and had to go through 3 people and wait 15 min before I got it.
Comments
I've never had any amount of confusion figuring out who to talk to. You literally can get checked in by nearly anyone on the floor. They direct you appropriately to where to wait and take notes about your appearance so your assigned rep can easily find you. YOU don't need any signage, that's the whole point.
If you were really the whiz you claim to be, you'd know that you could've figured this out over chat online with a rep and potentially done this whole exchange without leaving your home.
As for your second point, you literally said:
If you don't see the inherent sexism in that statement about one of the most successful retail executives in the world, I'm not sure anyone here can help you. But you're 100% wrong.
I'm sorry you're a SJW snowflake and can't handle the truth. Apple was heavily criticized by investors and (mostly) the press about not having enough women in the higher ups. So they went out on a women hiring spree. Angela even admitted in an interview that she told Tim Cook that she's not very good at retail but just happened to hire good people. No man would ever get hired in retail after saying that. Same for Lisa Jackson, she just recycles the same slides showing the iPhone to be highly recyclable and bromine free, etc... She was hired more for her Obama connections than anything else. Both these women make a crap load of money for doing next to nothing.
Apple is the most profitable company in the world, why can't they pay their retail employees a decent wage? I'll tell you why, because it would cut into the executives bonuses.
But, I get it. You're a yes-man, you stick to the status quo and never question or criticize anything and call it sexist when others do. If that helps you get through life, then good for you. For me, I'll continue to point out mediocrity and poor performance as I see it.
That's not what I said. I said if you knew exactly what you needed, you could order online and pick up at the store without waiting in line. It's a huge advantage over going through the process that the OP described. You can chalk up this improvement in Apple stores to Ms. Ahrendts tenure, even though she doesn't do anything in your mind.
You're willing to die for this, aren't you?
Everything you've said in this thread is either flat out wrong or moves the goalpost of the "debate."
WTF is arguing whether AA is better or worse than Ron Johnson? That's like saying (as trolls do) that Tim Cook isn't the CEO that Jobs was. Guess what? Jobs is dead and Ron Johnson quit. Your arguments that "she's done nothing" and that the retail experience is worse are easily countered. If you read the article it lists of number of significant changes that have happened on her watch--at hear initiative. To name just one more example, the "flagship store" concept was greatly expanded. The original Apple Stores were mostly cookie cutters. Now there are an increasing number of distinctive mega stores that are as much community centers than stores (to improve the brand and help people understand and appreciate the Apple way). If you believe the story, she personally identified the Carnegie Library Apple Store possibility. That was an outside-the-box idea; it's a quasi-public building that was sitting mostly unused on a great site, not it wasn't being pitched to developers as a retail possibility.
If you want to know more about AA and why Apple poached her from Burberry and why she is so well compensated and respected by the other Apple execs, how about you spend 10 minutes Googling her name and reading just a few of the articles. That fact that no one has personally invited you to spend a month in her shoes seeing exactly what decisions she makes and how she empowers/motivates others to perform isn't my problem. I, for one, trust that Tim Cook and others don't just trot her out as a pretty face to assuage "investors and the press" who want to see more women in positions of authority. She has experiences, insights, and a track record of success in areas that he Apple colleagues don't have. Diversity means bringing together different skills and perspectives to create something better than would be possible from a team of clones. I'm sorry that you don't get this.
Another lie. I made 3 buy-online/pickup-in-person purchases in December, one at Walmart, one at Apple, and one at a smaller store. The Walmart experience was slow and dreary and involved tedious paperwork; the mall store was a confused mess as they couldn't find the item I purchased or even a record of it (they eventually found it under the counter were an employee from the earlier shift had stashed it). At the Apple Store (which was PACKED), I walked up to a Apple-shirted person (or perhaps he approached me), I said I am picking up a phone, I showed them a barcode on my phone or maybe just my idea, they said please wait over there, and a couple minutes later someone walked up to me with my phone and asked if I wanted a bag. Done. To say that's it's a more pleasant experience at other places is insanity (or just trollishness).