I'm not sure the free support thing is such a drain, let me tell you a story:
I was in the apple store the other day and a woman was at the genius bar with her iphone. She was complaining that the sound during calls was not very good. The Genius looked at the phone an noticed she had a stick on screen protector and it was covering up the speaker. So he asked if he could take it off. It was taken off and she made a call and it was fixed.
The Genius then showed her to the iphone accessories where she could buy a proper iphone screen protector.. sale!
I wonder how many of these support calls can translate into a sale. Calls to the applecare phone support can not do that and apple is going to have to answer the support calls anyway!? so why not in store where they can easily recommend something to help them.
Spot on. While retail profitability might drop somewhat, it is a cost of doing business for all sales, not just in-store sales. People are faster to buy from apple.com or amazon knowing they can get service in the local store. The quality of service is what makes things most effective for retaining customers.
That said, my local apple store is a mess. So many employees, so many customers... it is a madhouse. Traffic flow is not well thought out, and the store on the whole is not effectively used. The clean lines of the design only show up when it is empty; they are awkward the remainder of the time.
It sound like a clear case for opening another Apple Store not too far away to me
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I think that, overall, this guy sort of makes sense. (And, he is actually positive about Apple's retail in the near-term, as far as I can tell.)
Retailing always looks great in the early stages. But it can very quickly start to be a drain on cash flows -- depending on how quickly it grows, it can get to be a low-margin, high-capex, high-touch (and hence, high-wage) business.
There are any number of examples of firms falling victim to this. The latest (and quite brutal) example being Starbucks, whose stock is down 50% last year, thanks to too much growth in the US.
I think the analyst is suggesting that Apple needs to be (and probably will be) careful, that's all.
I agree with you but there is also the possibility that because of the Starbucks situation grabbing headlines some writers are looking around for other fast growing companies that they can maybe grab a headline or two by suggesting they are or will have this same problem.
At the end of the day it's not a very good comparison. The staff at the Apple Stores do seem enthusiastic about the products (and why not?). At Starbucks the the server I get is usually talking about last night's date to another staff member while I wait 15 minutes for a coffee.
It sound like a clear case for opening another Apple Store not too far away to me
I think Best Buy getting an Apple Store kiosk is the most likely solution considering the distance to other Apple Stores, population and demographics of Sarasota.
I'm not sure the free support thing is such a drain, let me tell you a story:
I was in the apple store the other day and a woman was at the genius bar with her iphone. She was complaining that the sound during calls was not very good. The Genius looked at the phone an noticed she had a stick on screen protector and it was covering up the speaker. So he asked if he could take it off. It was taken off and she made a call and it was fixed.
The Genius then showed her to the iphone accessories where she could buy a proper iphone screen protector.. sale!
I wonder how many of these support calls can translate into a sale. Calls to the applecare phone support can not do that and apple is going to have to answer the support calls anyway!? so why not in store where they can easily recommend something to help them.
Pure Genius!
Apple (at least here in Japan) does not empower its Geniuses to do the job they are intended for. I tried returning a nano that had a tilted screen. The Genius said he'd be happy to exchange it, but the replacement would have a tilted screen because they all had tilted screens. Sure enough, every display model on the first floor had tilted screens; Apple Japan was knowingly selling a defective product. The Genius also said that buying a 1st generation Apple product was a risky move; he would not recommend me to buy the just released LED MBP (an Apple employee in an Apple Store could not recommend his own product!). The manager at the same shop completely ignored customers and only spoke to his staff, at least one of whom was practically illiterate.
Apple lost over $2000 in sales that day; my wife and I went to the electronics shop down the street; we simply did not feel like wasting any money in that shop. Due partially to that incident but mainly to several horrible run-ins with Apple over the past few years, our future computer purchases will be made only after looking at all options, including PCs (which is a tough place to be in for a guy who has used Apple computers since the IIe). The wife is teaching me to use Windows and there honestly may be a day when I switch to PC unless Apple gets their act together pretty soon. So not only did the Apple Store manage to lose a potential sale on one day, they managed to possibly lose many future sales. Between the two of us, we buy a new computer every year.
Spot on. ...The quality of service is what makes things most effective for retaining customers.
That said, my local apple store is a mess. So many employees, so many customers... it is a madhouse. Traffic flow is not well thought out, and the store on the whole is not effectively used. The clean lines of the design only show up when it is empty; they are awkward the remainder of the time.
One must remember that customers drive sales. I was sorry to hear that the store was full. Same here, I went in to a store a week after Xmas and it was full. Don't these people know that stores are suspose to be empty after Xmas, except for returns. :-)
But even though it was full, I was able to talk to several Apple workers. They were curtious and mostly knowledgable.
Apple (at least here in Japan) does not empower its Geniuses to do the job they are intended for. ..... The manager at the same shop completely ignored customers and only spoke to his staff, at least one of whom was practically illiterate.
Apple lost over $2000 in sales that day; my wife and I went to the electronics shop down the street; we simply did not feel like wasting any money in that shop. Due partially to that incident but mainly to several horrible run-ins with Apple over the past few years, our future computer purchases will be made only after looking at all options, including PCs (which is a tough place to be in for a guy who has used Apple computers since the IIe). The wife is teaching me to use Windows and there honestly may be a day when I switch to PC unless Apple gets their act together pretty soon. So not only did the Apple Store manage to lose a potential sale on one day, they managed to possibly lose many future sales. Between the two of us, we buy a new computer every year.
I have to wonder about this post. Its like saying that while driving my Ford pickup, the weather was terrible so now I am thinking of buying a Chevy so the weather will improve. :-)
In fact, all his comments were about Apple store service (and possibly over the phone) yet he is a long time Apple user who would love to go VISTA cause the Apple store was busy.
Being able to get your hands on a new Apple product is a huge plus IMHO, I previously lived in a state without an Apple store, and had to base my options from articles and the internet.
Unfortunately, I dread going to the local Apple store, the sales people there are among the most intrusive and pushy I have ever seen in any store, at least on the few occasions I have ventured inside. I know they are not supposed to work on commission, but after going to an Apple store, I believe the reports that they have unofficial quotas and so on.
\
You know, I wonder why with all the profits, the people who work there (non commision) make so little money? You could make more at the GAP working retail and its not like these guys are circuit city employee's and haven't a clue about computers.
I have to wonder about this post. Its like saying that while driving my Ford pickup, the weather was terrible so now I am thinking of buying a Chevy so the weather will improve. :-)
In fact, all his comments were about Apple store service (and possibly over the phone) yet he is a long time Apple user who would love to go VISTA cause the Apple store was busy.
HMMMMM????????? :-)
en
You're new and have not followed my posts over the past couple of months, so I will forgive this.
Service at the store sucked. Service on the phone sucks. Computers have arrived DOA. Computers have arrived with problems that Apple has denied existed and thus refused to service only later for those problems to be widespread (Catch-22: if they don't know about the problem, it is not a problem so they need a prior case, but since nobody can be the first case there is never a prior case). Once they finally serviced the computer, it was returned with the same problem, sometimes new problems. A defective product being sold. Hmmm. You also have never spoken with Apple Japan as some of us here have; they are a disaster. My wife, over the same period, bought five PCs and has never had a hardware problem with any of them, and not many software problems, either, TBH, nothing at all like the Mac fan community likes to suggests exists.
For years, I was a loyal Apple customer out of blind support, perhaps, but my first Macs did last like they were built differently. However, as the ticks on the wall increased in number, I started growing weary of my faith. Then a couple of incidents sort of pushed me over the top.
I have worked at a company that had 50-odd PCs that never had problems with hardware. Over the same period, I had several bad machines form Apple including one they attempted to repair three times and then hassled with me before exchanging the machine. I also at one point wondered whether the Apple Store (online) in Japan was selling refurbished and possibly defective machines and new. I didn't have a functioning machine at work and all the while Apple's stock grew and grew. The company saw the problems and declared "no Apples" and later that year order 100 PCs, which a quick phone call yesterday confirmed: no hardware problems in four years. My new MBP has a bad button and a dead pixel, both of which Apple said were normal and I should tough it out. I can also almost cook breakfast on it after using it to surf the web for ten minutes. Yeah, it looks great and is thin, but my wife's PC notebook doesn't get nearly as hot even after editing video for an hour; it is slightly thicker and has bigger fans inside to help the machine function, with slightly less focus on form.
No. I don't think a PC world will solve all my problems, but I am tired of wasting my money on a company that doesn't give a crap about me as the customer and said I am going to look at all options before dropping my hard-earned money.
Comments
I was in the apple store the other day and a woman was at the genius bar with her iphone. She was complaining that the sound during calls was not very good. The Genius looked at the phone an noticed she had a stick on screen protector and it was covering up the speaker. So he asked if he could take it off. It was taken off and she made a call and it was fixed.
The Genius then showed her to the iphone accessories where she could buy a proper iphone screen protector.. sale!
I wonder how many of these support calls can translate into a sale. Calls to the applecare phone support can not do that and apple is going to have to answer the support calls anyway!? so why not in store where they can easily recommend something to help them.
Pure Genius!
Spot on. While retail profitability might drop somewhat, it is a cost of doing business for all sales, not just in-store sales. People are faster to buy from apple.com or amazon knowing they can get service in the local store. The quality of service is what makes things most effective for retaining customers.
That said, my local apple store is a mess. So many employees, so many customers... it is a madhouse. Traffic flow is not well thought out, and the store on the whole is not effectively used. The clean lines of the design only show up when it is empty; they are awkward the remainder of the time.
It sound like a clear case for opening another Apple Store not too far away to me
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I think that, overall, this guy sort of makes sense. (And, he is actually positive about Apple's retail in the near-term, as far as I can tell.)
Retailing always looks great in the early stages. But it can very quickly start to be a drain on cash flows -- depending on how quickly it grows, it can get to be a low-margin, high-capex, high-touch (and hence, high-wage) business.
There are any number of examples of firms falling victim to this. The latest (and quite brutal) example being Starbucks, whose stock is down 50% last year, thanks to too much growth in the US.
I think the analyst is suggesting that Apple needs to be (and probably will be) careful, that's all.
I agree with you but there is also the possibility that because of the Starbucks situation grabbing headlines some writers are looking around for other fast growing companies that they can maybe grab a headline or two by suggesting they are or will have this same problem.
At the end of the day it's not a very good comparison. The staff at the Apple Stores do seem enthusiastic about the products (and why not?). At Starbucks the the server I get is usually talking about last night's date to another staff member while I wait 15 minutes for a coffee.
At Starbucks the the server I get is usually talking about last night's date to another staff member while I wait 15 minutes for a coffee.
And, their coffee tastes terrible, and is overpriced too.
It sound like a clear case for opening another Apple Store not too far away to me
I think Best Buy getting an Apple Store kiosk is the most likely solution considering the distance to other Apple Stores, population and demographics of Sarasota.
And, their coffee tastes terrible, and is overpriced too.
Overpriced, perhaps; but it sure is good.
I'm not sure the free support thing is such a drain, let me tell you a story:
I was in the apple store the other day and a woman was at the genius bar with her iphone. She was complaining that the sound during calls was not very good. The Genius looked at the phone an noticed she had a stick on screen protector and it was covering up the speaker. So he asked if he could take it off. It was taken off and she made a call and it was fixed.
The Genius then showed her to the iphone accessories where she could buy a proper iphone screen protector.. sale!
I wonder how many of these support calls can translate into a sale. Calls to the applecare phone support can not do that and apple is going to have to answer the support calls anyway!? so why not in store where they can easily recommend something to help them.
Pure Genius!
Apple (at least here in Japan) does not empower its Geniuses to do the job they are intended for. I tried returning a nano that had a tilted screen. The Genius said he'd be happy to exchange it, but the replacement would have a tilted screen because they all had tilted screens. Sure enough, every display model on the first floor had tilted screens; Apple Japan was knowingly selling a defective product. The Genius also said that buying a 1st generation Apple product was a risky move; he would not recommend me to buy the just released LED MBP (an Apple employee in an Apple Store could not recommend his own product!). The manager at the same shop completely ignored customers and only spoke to his staff, at least one of whom was practically illiterate.
Apple lost over $2000 in sales that day; my wife and I went to the electronics shop down the street; we simply did not feel like wasting any money in that shop. Due partially to that incident but mainly to several horrible run-ins with Apple over the past few years, our future computer purchases will be made only after looking at all options, including PCs (which is a tough place to be in for a guy who has used Apple computers since the IIe). The wife is teaching me to use Windows and there honestly may be a day when I switch to PC unless Apple gets their act together pretty soon. So not only did the Apple Store manage to lose a potential sale on one day, they managed to possibly lose many future sales. Between the two of us, we buy a new computer every year.
Spot on. ...The quality of service is what makes things most effective for retaining customers.
That said, my local apple store is a mess. So many employees, so many customers... it is a madhouse. Traffic flow is not well thought out, and the store on the whole is not effectively used. The clean lines of the design only show up when it is empty; they are awkward the remainder of the time.
One must remember that customers drive sales. I was sorry to hear that the store was full. Same here, I went in to a store a week after Xmas and it was full. Don't these people know that stores are suspose to be empty after Xmas, except for returns. :-)
But even though it was full, I was able to talk to several Apple workers. They were curtious and mostly knowledgable.
en
Apple (at least here in Japan) does not empower its Geniuses to do the job they are intended for. ..... The manager at the same shop completely ignored customers and only spoke to his staff, at least one of whom was practically illiterate.
Apple lost over $2000 in sales that day; my wife and I went to the electronics shop down the street; we simply did not feel like wasting any money in that shop. Due partially to that incident but mainly to several horrible run-ins with Apple over the past few years, our future computer purchases will be made only after looking at all options, including PCs (which is a tough place to be in for a guy who has used Apple computers since the IIe). The wife is teaching me to use Windows and there honestly may be a day when I switch to PC unless Apple gets their act together pretty soon. So not only did the Apple Store manage to lose a potential sale on one day, they managed to possibly lose many future sales. Between the two of us, we buy a new computer every year.
I have to wonder about this post. Its like saying that while driving my Ford pickup, the weather was terrible so now I am thinking of buying a Chevy so the weather will improve. :-)
In fact, all his comments were about Apple store service (and possibly over the phone) yet he is a long time Apple user who would love to go VISTA cause the Apple store was busy.
HMMMMM????????? :-)
en
And, their coffee tastes terrible, and is overpriced too.
IMHO, the people who buy coffee at Starbucks are the same people who keep Monster Cables in business.
Being able to get your hands on a new Apple product is a huge plus IMHO, I previously lived in a state without an Apple store, and had to base my options from articles and the internet.
Unfortunately, I dread going to the local Apple store, the sales people there are among the most intrusive and pushy I have ever seen in any store, at least on the few occasions I have ventured inside. I know they are not supposed to work on commission, but after going to an Apple store, I believe the reports that they have unofficial quotas and so on.
You know, I wonder why with all the profits, the people who work there (non commision) make so little money? You could make more at the GAP working retail and its not like these guys are circuit city employee's and haven't a clue about computers.
Very strange.
I have to wonder about this post. Its like saying that while driving my Ford pickup, the weather was terrible so now I am thinking of buying a Chevy so the weather will improve. :-)
In fact, all his comments were about Apple store service (and possibly over the phone) yet he is a long time Apple user who would love to go VISTA cause the Apple store was busy.
HMMMMM????????? :-)
en
You're new and have not followed my posts over the past couple of months, so I will forgive this.
Service at the store sucked. Service on the phone sucks. Computers have arrived DOA. Computers have arrived with problems that Apple has denied existed and thus refused to service only later for those problems to be widespread (Catch-22: if they don't know about the problem, it is not a problem so they need a prior case, but since nobody can be the first case there is never a prior case). Once they finally serviced the computer, it was returned with the same problem, sometimes new problems. A defective product being sold. Hmmm. You also have never spoken with Apple Japan as some of us here have; they are a disaster. My wife, over the same period, bought five PCs and has never had a hardware problem with any of them, and not many software problems, either, TBH, nothing at all like the Mac fan community likes to suggests exists.
For years, I was a loyal Apple customer out of blind support, perhaps, but my first Macs did last like they were built differently. However, as the ticks on the wall increased in number, I started growing weary of my faith. Then a couple of incidents sort of pushed me over the top.
I have worked at a company that had 50-odd PCs that never had problems with hardware. Over the same period, I had several bad machines form Apple including one they attempted to repair three times and then hassled with me before exchanging the machine. I also at one point wondered whether the Apple Store (online) in Japan was selling refurbished and possibly defective machines and new. I didn't have a functioning machine at work and all the while Apple's stock grew and grew. The company saw the problems and declared "no Apples" and later that year order 100 PCs, which a quick phone call yesterday confirmed: no hardware problems in four years. My new MBP has a bad button and a dead pixel, both of which Apple said were normal and I should tough it out. I can also almost cook breakfast on it after using it to surf the web for ten minutes. Yeah, it looks great and is thin, but my wife's PC notebook doesn't get nearly as hot even after editing video for an hour; it is slightly thicker and has bigger fans inside to help the machine function, with slightly less focus on form.
No. I don't think a PC world will solve all my problems, but I am tired of wasting my money on a company that doesn't give a crap about me as the customer and said I am going to look at all options before dropping my hard-earned money.