Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts to speak at April's Global Retailing Conference
Apple retail head Angela Ahrendts will be one of the featured speakers at next month's Global Retailing Conference in Tucson, Ariz., according to the event's website.
The conference is scheduled for Apr. 20 and 21, where Ahrendts will be joined by executives from Macy's, Kendra Scott, Walmart, and other corporations. The only other major tech speaker present will be Alex Komoroske, a lead product manager at Google responsible for the Chrome Web Platform team.
Tickets for the event run between $400 and $695, with the lowest price being reserved for colleges, universities, and non-profits.
The subject of Ahrendts' talk is unknown, but since joining Apple in 2014 the executive has overseen some significant changes, such as new roles among retail workers. New and existing outlets have been adopting a more fashion-oriented aesthetic, combining elements like wooden shelves, tree groves, and oversized video displays.
Prior to Apple the executive was the CEO of Burberry, making her shift an unusual downgrade in job title, though Apple is a vastly bigger company.
One of the larger Apple projects spearheaded by Ahrendts has been manufacturing a "community" around each store. Some examples of this are "Teacher Tuesdays," and classes in which kids can learn to program in the company's Swift language.
The conference is scheduled for Apr. 20 and 21, where Ahrendts will be joined by executives from Macy's, Kendra Scott, Walmart, and other corporations. The only other major tech speaker present will be Alex Komoroske, a lead product manager at Google responsible for the Chrome Web Platform team.
Tickets for the event run between $400 and $695, with the lowest price being reserved for colleges, universities, and non-profits.
The subject of Ahrendts' talk is unknown, but since joining Apple in 2014 the executive has overseen some significant changes, such as new roles among retail workers. New and existing outlets have been adopting a more fashion-oriented aesthetic, combining elements like wooden shelves, tree groves, and oversized video displays.
Prior to Apple the executive was the CEO of Burberry, making her shift an unusual downgrade in job title, though Apple is a vastly bigger company.
One of the larger Apple projects spearheaded by Ahrendts has been manufacturing a "community" around each store. Some examples of this are "Teacher Tuesdays," and classes in which kids can learn to program in the company's Swift language.
Comments
Not exactly TANKED and a good portion of the revenue decrease was due to currency fluctuations. Read this article.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/02/07/see-how-apples-growth-in-greater-china-could-once-again-top-european-revenue
That's kind of implied by them beating Tiffany's, who I thought were second (jewellery is a high revenue business), but I see that at least last year, Murphy USA, who apparently operate service stations, were second to Apple, and about US$1000 ahead of Tiffany's.
But beyond the package she got when she joined Apple, she makes more or less the same as the (7) other SVPs and the COO. Depending on how well Apple and AAPL do, they (with some relatively small variation between them) make in the ballpark of $25 million in total compensation per year.
And Ms. Ahrendts is responsible for considerably more than just the physical stores (e.g. Apple's online store and customer contact center).
While I don't think any executives are worth the obscene hundreds-of-times more they are paid than average workers, I also don't think she's in some way underperforming. I'm not her manager so how would I know?
Why wouldn't she? She hasn't been fired by her manager. So unless you're in the executive round tables with Cook, I fail to see how "mj web" has any info to suggest otherwise. Are you a close personal friend?
Guess you need to stop by my local store -- swamped. Every. Day.
Here's what I realized long ago -- the vocal whiners on rumor sites aren't as important as they think they are. And despite all the whining, none of them have "switched" after [latest techie injustice!].
In what way does it "stink"?
I haven't seen that happen.
Retail stores are fine but seem on auto-pilot, no major change.
Fortunately, it's your opinion so it carries very little weight.
Your inability to see the big picture continues to astound me. The Retail chain has never been about 'Bricks and Mortar'. Jobs signed off on the retail chain when the likes of Gateway and other computer manufacturers were closing up their high street shops and Dell was in its ascendency. Jobs said at the time that the retail chain was more about giving Apple a place where people could go and try out the kit, something that you cannot do with an online store. Something that people want to do when they're dropping a ton of money on a Mac. Seriously, try to look beyond the numbers; the fact you can't is why you miss everything that's right in front of your face.
And going back to your lack of research, Ahrendts is not only responsible for the retail shops (which means she is responsible for the health and happiness of 60% of Apple's employees), but also the online stores, and the integration of these stores with the main web site. Her contacts and savvy made sure that the Apple Watch launch had enough celeb endorsements to garner interest outside the regular Apple customer sphere (which isn't here by the way). She is rebranding the stores and has to navigate the reams of local laws and regulations in dozens of countries when she opens the new ones. The China expansion was fast by anyone's standards, and if China sales have tanked then that's not because they can't buy Apple products. It's because Apple is in a market that is supported by state-sponsored IP theft. They could get out, but then people like you would just whine about the stock hit.
Oh, did I mention that Ahrendts is also the head of Apple's entire customer support operation worldwide? That includes the new chatbots, support and much improved service as a whole is down to her. Basically, anything customer-facing is down to her, so my guess is that she's also responsible for Apple's new focus on regional advertising. (Which other Apple exec spends so much time visiting Apple operations all over the globe?)
I have to laugh at the people who think she does nothing. I bet she wishes she had the time for the amount of ill-informed forum whining that goes on round here.