Apple hires Dixons Retail CEO John Browett as new SVP of Retail
Apple announced on Monday that it had hired John Browett, former CEO at European Technology Retailer Dixons, to be its new Senior Vice President of Retail, a move that reflects the company's increased focus on its overseas retail operations.
Browett had served as CEO at his former company since 2007. Prior to that, he was CEO of Tesco.com. He holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from Wharton Business School.
“Our retail stores are all about customer service, and John shares that commitment like no one else we’ve met,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a press release. “We are thrilled to have him join our team and bring his incredible retail experience to Apple.”
Browett takes over for Apple's former head of retail Ron Johnson. Johnson was instrumental in the formation of the company's retail business and spent more than 10 years at its helm before stepping down to join retailer JC Penney as CEO last November. After assembling a team that included former Apple alumni, Johnson outed JC Penney's new strategy last week with an Apple-like full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal.
John Browett, Apple's new SVP of Retail. | Credit: Dixons
Apple was reported to have engaged a global recruitment firm last summer to help it search for a new retail executive with international experience. The company's retail business has skewed toward international locations in recent years. Apple revealed last fall that 75 percent of its retail stores set to open during the December quarter would be outside of the U.S.
Looking ahead, Apple is set to open new store-within-a-store outlets at select Target locations in the U.S. For an in-depth look at Apple's plans for its retail business, see the recent AppleInsider report: The next ten years of Apple Retail.
Comments
Strange choice. Shopping at Dixons (and sister store PC World) is a terrible retailing experience.
This was my immediate reaction. Tesco and Dixons? Really? A technology retailer? Will he want to turn the Apple stores into copies of the Microsoft stores? Just doesn't seem like the right fit.
But then, I suppose many might have had misgivings about Ron Johnson coming from Target (although Target has had good advertising and merchandising for years).
I guess we will have to wait and see what this change brings about but I have an ominous feeling that Apple will be looking for a replacement inside a year.
Personally I grew tired of being pestered at every turn because of the salary commission structure used by management.
This does not bode well for Apple's future retailing, and it doesn't inspire me with confidence on Apple's thought processes moving forward if this is what they came up with.
Still, there's a Dixons right in the middle of Prince's Street, so there's maybe hope for an Edinburgh Apple Store yet!
Oh dear. I can't bring myself to say much more than that.
Ditto. I hope this isn't a huge mistake.
I grew up in the UK seeing Dixons stores in every major town and city centre. The shops were ok with a lot of the latest tech and they were the most popular place to buy electronics until online e-commerce got huge and and people favoured shopping on the internet as product prices became more competitive. That's when Dixons started to decline for me. PC World the same. The stores had atrociously bad customer service with sales guys who didn't really know and understand the products they were selling.
Guess I'm not alone. I was in London for 2.5 months in 2008 and Currys, Dixons and PC World indeed did not impress me. And Tesco? Nothing majorly wrong, but it *is*... Tesco.
I'm sorry but I'm going to say this is not the guy that would have been hired if Steve was still alive, and I forsee Apple Retail holding steady rather than improving significantly, at best, assuming he stays more than two years, which I think is 50-50.
Ron Johnson's JC Penny ad is already somewhat badass, let's see what they come up with. Tesco and Dixon's... not sure, not sure mate.
Dixons are box shifters. Their staff try and sell you what they want you to buy ie the thing with the most commission. Dont even start me on the tech guys and extended warranties. I think this is a mistake.
Oh yes...that reminds me.. 399 GBP for a 5 year extended warranty I paid when I bought a sony laptop at dixons. It was 50% the cost of the laptop itself. I remember the sales guy pushing and pushing saying how good of a deal it was and in the end he even ended up knocking 20% off the warranty package just to get commission out of it. Pain in the backside aggressive service ughh brings back memories. Funny enough my laptop did break down 4 years into usage and they replaced me with a brand new one of a new spec.
It seems odd that the company with the best customer service record around hires someone who's in charge of a company with one of the worst customer service records around.
Then again, Cook does not seems to be the type to give this guy free reign. I'd expect his experience will be used to help grow apple stores overseas as the article mentions.
Irish store?
But they already have one in Belfast... ***DUCKS FOR COVER***
Seriously though, I've been reading about what has happened
to Ireland post-bust. Also been running into quite a few Irish people
here in Australia.
Edit: I was going to say, sorry to hear about Ireland. Raped by Banks
And Tesco.. again a different market, but you can't fault their management (apart from very recently) over the last decade. It has been an incredible success story.
"Company with best high-street customer service reputation hires man from company with worst high-street customer service reputation."
I am sure we are all being grossly unfair to this poor chap and Tim knows what he is doing..