OMG - this must be the dumbest thing Apple can do. The customer experience, the level of service, the genius bar, providing service out of warranty sometimes - this is what makes people like the Apple experience. DITCH THIS GUY NOW!
Don't Apple Stores already have some of the highest revenues per square foot among ALL retailers?
That's true. If I'm correct, the 5th Avenue, New York store has the THE highest revenue / square feet of any retailer worldwide, followed by Tiffany's.
If true, it's the beginning of a long slide downward. And very dumb. Jobs would be apoplectic.
The retail experience is part of what has put Apple where it is. While I'm sure some extra revenue could be squeezed out of the stores, I'm also sure that it isn't worth the corrosion to the brand.
Browett must have had SOMETHING going for him to get hired. I can’t imagine what. Something big enough to offset the recent apparent blunders? (Which I have no reason to doubt happened.)
Well, not something big enough to keep him on if he can’t get over the “focus on revenue” thing. No third chance! I can’t see how he’ll remain at Apple unless a lot of these stories are simply not true. (And that is possible, but they smell true to me.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Markussd
I think this is a good move by Apple as they will save loads of money in the end. Most sales are made online anyway, so its not a problem.
I’m sure Browett would point to that fact too—I don’t dispute it. But a LOT of those sales are to people who visited Apple stores in their decision-making process. Still others are sales to people who will get more from their machine because they had an Apple Store to rely on during ownership—which in turn impacts future sales directly. And indirectly: happy customers spread word of mouth, online and in person alike. Plus, we have stats on how heavily the stores sell to first-time Apple users. Invaluable customer-base expansion. Mindshare, not just revenue per square foot.
Recent years have shown how vital the quality Apple Store experience has been to Apple.
Apple could easily get rid of a certain percentage of their retail staff. There's way too many of them whenever I visit any Apple store.
Look at that picture above, that's from the Grand central store I believe. The amount of employees is ridiculous, Apple should lay off at least 25% of them.
I was at an Apple Store over the weekend and so many of their staff just standing around doing nothing.
I was in an Apple store today and they wouldn't give me a free replacement on my Macbook Pro battery, which was so swollen that the trackpad doesn't even work anymore. Yes, it's out of warranty, but it's also a massive fire hazard and has the risk of exploding. (It still holds a charge just fine, it just doesn't fit in the case anymore.) How long until there are more batteries bursting into flames on airplanes because Apple is too cheap to offer replacements. And this is after I already shelled out ~$80 to buy a new power cord within the last couple months because that too had become completely frayed and was also a fire hazard.
What's more, I tried to report the swelling issue on their 800 number since it's a serious safety hazard, and they wouldn't even file a report.
Send an email to [email protected] see what happens, but explain the situation in full detail without getting nasty. MAYBE he'll surprise you. It doesn't cost you anything.
That's true. If I'm correct, the 5th Avenue, New York store has the THE highest revenue / square feet of any retailer worldwide, followed by Tiffany's.
I believe that you are correct. I live not too far away from that store, and an employee who works there told me the same thing too when I was there a while ago.
I was at an Apple Store over the weekend and so many of their staff just standing around doing nothing.
Yes, and that's partially what I meant by my comment. I don't mean that Apple should sacrifice customer experience and service for profits, but there's no need to have a ridiculous amount of employees either. Even if they cut down a bit, there would still be plenty of employees.
I was at an Apple Store over the weekend and so many of their staff just standing around doing nothing.
Well, it's hard to predict when the customers walk in the door. It's hard to manage that since every day is different. I've walked into an Apple store on a weekday and it had a few people and then walk in on another week day and it is packed. There's no rhyme or reason. Now, obviously we are going into the end of summer months, so it would make sense if less people were going into the Store during the week day. So, that might be what people are experiencing.
But when the new products get announced, back come the lines of customers.
Browett must have had SOMETHING going for him to get hired. I can’t imagine what. Something big enough to offset the recent apparent blunders? (Which I have no reason to doubt happened.)
Well, not something big enough to keep him on if he can’t get over the “focus on revenue” thing. No third chance! I can’t see how he’ll remain at Apple unless a lot of these stories are simply not true. (And that is possible, but they smell true to me.)
I’m sure Browett would point to that fact too—I don’t dispute it. But a LOT of those sales are to people who visited Apple stores in their decision-making process. Still others are sales to people who will get more from their machine because they had an Apple Store to rely on during ownership—which in turn impacts future sales directly. And indirectly: happy customers spread word of mouth, online and in person alike. Plus, we have stats on how heavily the stores sell to first-time Apple users. Invaluable customer-base expansion. Mindshare, not just revenue per square foot.
Recent years have shown how vital the quality Apple Store experience has been to Apple.
It's typical for new Sales management to come in and do something to make an impact either in trying to increase sales, reduce costs, etc. I've seen that many times before.
The other side is it is the end to the summer months and kids are going back to school instead of hanging around the stores, etc. So, that might be the reasoning.
But, STILL customer service should always be the FIRST priority. PERIOD. Employee morale is secondary and THEN profits.
Happy Customers mean RETURN customers, means INCREASED sales. Happy Employees mean more willing to do their job to take care of what needs to be taken care of.
Don't Apple Stores already have some of the highest revenues per square foot among ALL retailers?
Yeah, but they need to constantly attract those customers and Customer Service is a BIG way to do so. Keeping the employees happy and ensuring they keep the customers happy is what it's based on. Making great products is just one piece of the cog. They need to make sure ALL pieces are there.
Long before Browett came on the scene, I have not been at all impressed with the Apple Store staff apart from those at the Genius bar. I've found the average sales assistant to either lack knowledge about the products or laxidasical.
Tim Cook is no John Sculley. Some things will undoubtedly be different, but on the whole he's been doing a good job. They scored a big win on Friday in court. They launched the new iPad, and for the first time in years they had enough supply to match demand. They released Mountain Lion on schedule, and look to have a great new iPhone in the wings.
You can thank the lawyers for that, not Cook. New iPad was one of Jobs' final projects, so again, meh. As for ML being released "on schedule," A) they set that schedule internally, so I don't see the significance of that, and previous launches came along with hardware refreshes, whereas ML came a month after. Sounds like it was behind schedule to me.
And saying Cook is no Sculley isn't exactly high praise, seeing how he's no Steve Jobs either.
[" url="/t/152163/apple-stores-reportedly-continue-to-see-cutbacks-as-focus-shifts-to-revenue#post_2177292"]Apple could easily get rid of a certain percentage of their retail staff. There's way too many of them whenever I visit any Apple store.
Look at that picture above, that's from the Grand central store I believe. The amount of employees is ridiculous, Apple should lay off at least 25% of them.
you may or may not have a point but considering Apple could enact a policy to slaughter babies every day before store opening as a sacrifice to the retail gods and you'd be all for it.
"Well obviously there are too many babies in this world and all Apple is doing is continuing to help the economy by keeping the population down."
you may or may not have a point but considering Apple could enact a policy to slaughter babies every day before store opening as a sacrifice to the retail gods and you'd be all for it.
"Well obviously there are too many babies in this world and all Apple is doing is continuing to help the economy by keeping the population down."
40-50 million babies are slaughtered every year (worldwide of course), those kind of people don't need Apple's help for that.
People have to stop thinking that, just because someone is upper management and paid disgusting amounts of money, and rich from previous jobs, that they have any clue what they're doing or are experts in any way. What this guy does is the same thing that many high paid executives do: they butt-snorkel to get into a place, telling stories about how much they did at other jobs, get the job, butt-snorkel their superiors to maintain superficial image... then they change everything that was in place by their predecessor, in the arrogant assumption that they know better (without any experience in the position at the current company), and proceed to create more "value" for the shareholders by destroying everything underneath themselves (which shareholders don't usually have enough interest in to care about).
This is not hard to do!! There's plenty of damage you can do at this level while presenting it as "good" to your superiors, who have put you into your position so they don't have to pay attention to those things. You have near free-reign over those below you and your departmental responsibilities because that's what you're hired to do. This is EASY.
The end result is that people think they've done a good job because all anyone at that level looks at is the newly increased profits, without caring what suffered to produce them. Once the blood has been squeezed from the stone, the people at the top wonder where all their customers' anger comes from and why they are seeing depressed sales, bad reviews, reports in media about employees hating them, etc. They paid the guy to manage this stuff so they didn't need to but what they didn't count on was hiring a sociopath. Still, it's an easy solution from that level: They blame the guy they hired to do all this and give him a huge payoff to leave the company earlier than the employment contract stipulated. Then the person moves over to another big corporation, showing all his profit-making kudos, earning him another high-paying job, moves in and does the exact same thing all over again. He doesn't learn. He doesn't suffer consequences. He rides on the backs of those he destroys and will do so into retirement, where he will do even less to "earn" the comfort he has long been accustomed to expecting.
Take this hypothetical story and apply it to all kinds of corporate and government positions and you have an accurate portrait of the sociopathy of the capitalism we currently worship. It's not capitalism itself that's the problem; it's the execution and the sole focus on profits and stock values. Those things do not exist without service and product but the majority of public businesses are run as if that's the case.
I've watched it first hand and no doubt do too have many of you. Stop putting up with it.
I was in an Apple store today and they wouldn't give me a free replacement on my Macbook Pro battery, which was so swollen that the trackpad doesn't even work anymore. Yes, it's out of warranty,
If it is out of warranty it is out of warranty. You should have gotten Apple Care.
Comments
I think this is a good move by Apple as they will save loads of money in the end. Most sales are made online anyway, so its not a problem.
OMG - this must be the dumbest thing Apple can do. The customer experience, the level of service, the genius bar, providing service out of warranty sometimes - this is what makes people like the Apple experience. DITCH THIS GUY NOW!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Scrip
Don't Apple Stores already have some of the highest revenues per square foot among ALL retailers?
That's true. If I'm correct, the 5th Avenue, New York store has the THE highest revenue / square feet of any retailer worldwide, followed by Tiffany's.
If true, it's the beginning of a long slide downward. And very dumb. Jobs would be apoplectic.
The retail experience is part of what has put Apple where it is. While I'm sure some extra revenue could be squeezed out of the stores, I'm also sure that it isn't worth the corrosion to the brand.
Browett must have had SOMETHING going for him to get hired. I can’t imagine what. Something big enough to offset the recent apparent blunders? (Which I have no reason to doubt happened.)
Well, not something big enough to keep him on if he can’t get over the “focus on revenue” thing. No third chance! I can’t see how he’ll remain at Apple unless a lot of these stories are simply not true. (And that is possible, but they smell true to me.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Markussd
I think this is a good move by Apple as they will save loads of money in the end. Most sales are made online anyway, so its not a problem.
I’m sure Browett would point to that fact too—I don’t dispute it. But a LOT of those sales are to people who visited Apple stores in their decision-making process. Still others are sales to people who will get more from their machine because they had an Apple Store to rely on during ownership—which in turn impacts future sales directly. And indirectly: happy customers spread word of mouth, online and in person alike. Plus, we have stats on how heavily the stores sell to first-time Apple users. Invaluable customer-base expansion. Mindshare, not just revenue per square foot.
Recent years have shown how vital the quality Apple Store experience has been to Apple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Apple ][
Apple could easily get rid of a certain percentage of their retail staff. There's way too many of them whenever I visit any Apple store.
Look at that picture above, that's from the Grand central store I believe. The amount of employees is ridiculous, Apple should lay off at least 25% of them.
I was at an Apple Store over the weekend and so many of their staff just standing around doing nothing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex3917
I was in an Apple store today and they wouldn't give me a free replacement on my Macbook Pro battery, which was so swollen that the trackpad doesn't even work anymore. Yes, it's out of warranty, but it's also a massive fire hazard and has the risk of exploding. (It still holds a charge just fine, it just doesn't fit in the case anymore.) How long until there are more batteries bursting into flames on airplanes because Apple is too cheap to offer replacements. And this is after I already shelled out ~$80 to buy a new power cord within the last couple months because that too had become completely frayed and was also a fire hazard.
What's more, I tried to report the swelling issue on their 800 number since it's a serious safety hazard, and they wouldn't even file a report.
Send an email to [email protected] see what happens, but explain the situation in full detail without getting nasty. MAYBE he'll surprise you. It doesn't cost you anything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shameer Mulji
That's true. If I'm correct, the 5th Avenue, New York store has the THE highest revenue / square feet of any retailer worldwide, followed by Tiffany's.
I believe that you are correct. I live not too far away from that store, and an employee who works there told me the same thing too when I was there a while ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by winstein2010
I was at an Apple Store over the weekend and so many of their staff just standing around doing nothing.
Yes, and that's partially what I meant by my comment. I don't mean that Apple should sacrifice customer experience and service for profits, but there's no need to have a ridiculous amount of employees either. Even if they cut down a bit, there would still be plenty of employees.
Quote:
Originally Posted by winstein2010
I was at an Apple Store over the weekend and so many of their staff just standing around doing nothing.
Well, it's hard to predict when the customers walk in the door. It's hard to manage that since every day is different. I've walked into an Apple store on a weekday and it had a few people and then walk in on another week day and it is packed. There's no rhyme or reason. Now, obviously we are going into the end of summer months, so it would make sense if less people were going into the Store during the week day. So, that might be what people are experiencing.
But when the new products get announced, back come the lines of customers.
This is where the CEO, who sees the bigger picture, is supposed to override the operations guy. Oops... the CEO is the operations guy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nagromme
Browett must have had SOMETHING going for him to get hired. I can’t imagine what. Something big enough to offset the recent apparent blunders? (Which I have no reason to doubt happened.)
Well, not something big enough to keep him on if he can’t get over the “focus on revenue” thing. No third chance! I can’t see how he’ll remain at Apple unless a lot of these stories are simply not true. (And that is possible, but they smell true to me.)
I’m sure Browett would point to that fact too—I don’t dispute it. But a LOT of those sales are to people who visited Apple stores in their decision-making process. Still others are sales to people who will get more from their machine because they had an Apple Store to rely on during ownership—which in turn impacts future sales directly. And indirectly: happy customers spread word of mouth, online and in person alike. Plus, we have stats on how heavily the stores sell to first-time Apple users. Invaluable customer-base expansion. Mindshare, not just revenue per square foot.
Recent years have shown how vital the quality Apple Store experience has been to Apple.
It's typical for new Sales management to come in and do something to make an impact either in trying to increase sales, reduce costs, etc. I've seen that many times before.
The other side is it is the end to the summer months and kids are going back to school instead of hanging around the stores, etc. So, that might be the reasoning.
But, STILL customer service should always be the FIRST priority. PERIOD. Employee morale is secondary and THEN profits.
Happy Customers mean RETURN customers, means INCREASED sales. Happy Employees mean more willing to do their job to take care of what needs to be taken care of.
It all feeds on one another.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Scrip
Don't Apple Stores already have some of the highest revenues per square foot among ALL retailers?
Yeah, but they need to constantly attract those customers and Customer Service is a BIG way to do so. Keeping the employees happy and ensuring they keep the customers happy is what it's based on. Making great products is just one piece of the cog. They need to make sure ALL pieces are there.
Long before Browett came on the scene, I have not been at all impressed with the Apple Store staff apart from those at the Genius bar. I've found the average sales assistant to either lack knowledge about the products or laxidasical.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KPOM
Tim Cook is no John Sculley. Some things will undoubtedly be different, but on the whole he's been doing a good job. They scored a big win on Friday in court. They launched the new iPad, and for the first time in years they had enough supply to match demand. They released Mountain Lion on schedule, and look to have a great new iPhone in the wings.
You can thank the lawyers for that, not Cook. New iPad was one of Jobs' final projects, so again, meh. As for ML being released "on schedule," A) they set that schedule internally, so I don't see the significance of that, and
And saying Cook is no Sculley isn't exactly high praise, seeing how he's no Steve Jobs either.
you may or may not have a point but considering Apple could enact a policy to slaughter babies every day before store opening as a sacrifice to the retail gods and you'd be all for it.
"Well obviously there are too many babies in this world and all Apple is doing is continuing to help the economy by keeping the population down."
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbsoluteDesignz
you may or may not have a point but considering Apple could enact a policy to slaughter babies every day before store opening as a sacrifice to the retail gods and you'd be all for it.
"Well obviously there are too many babies in this world and all Apple is doing is continuing to help the economy by keeping the population down."
40-50 million babies are slaughtered every year (worldwide of course), those kind of people don't need Apple's help for that.
This is not hard to do!! There's plenty of damage you can do at this level while presenting it as "good" to your superiors, who have put you into your position so they don't have to pay attention to those things. You have near free-reign over those below you and your departmental responsibilities because that's what you're hired to do. This is EASY.
The end result is that people think they've done a good job because all anyone at that level looks at is the newly increased profits, without caring what suffered to produce them. Once the blood has been squeezed from the stone, the people at the top wonder where all their customers' anger comes from and why they are seeing depressed sales, bad reviews, reports in media about employees hating them, etc. They paid the guy to manage this stuff so they didn't need to but what they didn't count on was hiring a sociopath. Still, it's an easy solution from that level: They blame the guy they hired to do all this and give him a huge payoff to leave the company earlier than the employment contract stipulated. Then the person moves over to another big corporation, showing all his profit-making kudos, earning him another high-paying job, moves in and does the exact same thing all over again. He doesn't learn. He doesn't suffer consequences. He rides on the backs of those he destroys and will do so into retirement, where he will do even less to "earn" the comfort he has long been accustomed to expecting.
Take this hypothetical story and apply it to all kinds of corporate and government positions and you have an accurate portrait of the sociopathy of the capitalism we currently worship. It's not capitalism itself that's the problem; it's the execution and the sole focus on profits and stock values. Those things do not exist without service and product but the majority of public businesses are run as if that's the case.
I've watched it first hand and no doubt do too have many of you. Stop putting up with it.
If it is out of warranty it is out of warranty. You should have gotten Apple Care.