“ So the challenge for retailers isn't "how do we mimic the Apple
Store" or any other store that seems like a good model. It's a very
different problem, one that's conceptually similar to what Steve Jobs faced
with the iPhone. He didn't ask, "How do we build a phone that can achieve
a two percent market share?" He asked, "How do we reinvent the
telephone?" In the same way, retailers shouldn't be asking, "How do
we create a store that's going to do $15 million a year?" They should be
asking, "How do we reinvent the store to enrich our customers'
lives?" (...) You have to create a store that's more than a store to
people.” (Johnson, Ron)
Spaces are part of our lives all the
time. Everything people do takes place somewhere, and the space is really
influential on people’s behaviors and society in a general way. There are a lot
of meanings behind it that go unnoticed or are subconsciously assimilated. In
terms of business, it is the same situation. Brands catch their costumers in
many different ways. Some of them just go with the flow, while others are
innovative. Apple is one of the most innovative companies nowadays and it is
getting bigger every day. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal
from August 2012, it has come to be worth more than 600 billion dollars. They
have concepts in their business that concern the experience of the costumer and
quality, and they apply those concepts not only to products, but to the retail
stores too.
The Apple Retail Store is one of the
most famous stores in the world, and it has a lot of features that make it a
special and a good place for buying. While shopping at Apple Retail Stores, the
consumers experience the same level of quality on design and comfort as that
applied by Apple to their products, and it is intentional. For example, the
retail is designed in the same colors and lights to make you feel the same
experience in any store. There are big tables scattered in the store and
shelves on both sides, it is all organized in a common arrangement in all the
Apple Retail Stores. The tables and shelves are made of light wood. Laid out on
all the tables and shelves are all the devices connected to the internet which
can be tried out by the costumers. I have already seen people trying and using
the devices in many different ways, I’ve seen people uploading pictures from
their flash drives and other devices to the Apple products just to test them in
the store and also people listening a variety of music on the iPods and other
devices. The color scheme of the store overall is light, made by the mix of the
light color of the wood, the silver color used in the walls, ceiling and floor,
and the white lights. It gives the costumer a feeling of a clean and flawless environment,
a comfortable place to buy; also it really looks like another Apple device. The
massive quantity of devices to try over the tables and shelves and the space
between each individual item allows the costumer to feel like the products were
set out specifically for them. There is a sense of independence and freedom for
each costumer and item. Overall these physical features of the Apple Store
convey a message that Apple is a responsible, reliable company from which to
buy major products that people depend heavily on.
As you enter in the store you find a kind
of doorman. He asks what you want or need and depending on your answer he calls
a Specialist or a Genius for you. A Specialist is the name that Apple gave to
their greeters, they are well trained and know everything about Apple products,
they are able to tell you how every product works, answer your questions, tell
you what are the differences between one product and another and they are also
able to recommend you the perfect product based on your needs. The Genius is
the name of the greeters that works in what is called the Genius Bar. The
Genius Bar is a technical support place inside every Apple Retail Store; it is
where the Geniuses work with the clients face to face. They help the costumers
analyze their problems with the products, providing technical support. They
help you with your doubts on the system, tell you how you do what you want and
they also find defects in your Apple product. The Genius would show you the
problem and indicate the solution. According to Ron Johnson, who was Senior
Vice President of Retail Operations at Apple Inc. and pioneer in the concept of
the Apple Retail Stores and Genius Bar, no one went to the Genius Bar during
the first years. As they believe that face-to-face support was the very best
way to help costumers, they stuck on it, and three years after the Genius Bar
was launched, it was so popular that they had to set up a reservation system, with
which people could make an online reservation and get an appointment at the
Genius Bar. All the employees of the Apple Retail Store wear a uniform that
really matches the clean design of the store: blue shirts with no details but
the Apple logo in the middle of the chest, the white apple.
Unless you say you don’t need help or
are just taking a look at something, you will always be escorted by an employee
in the store, normally a Specialist. It gives you the sensation of care and
that anything you ask would be answered by those guys. The service offered is
one of the best in the market. The Specialists act with kindness and cordiality,
they always try to help the client and figure out their needs. You can see by the way they act that they
were trained for that. They always try to make the client feel special.
A standout in the Apple Retail Store is
that although there are always famous big lines in front of the store for the
launches of new products, in a common day of work there is no line inside the
store. It happens because they don’t have cash registers. They have a standard system of selling
different from most of the other stores. Every Specialist that is serving you has
his or her own sales device. They are able to sell you the product you choose and
proceed with all the payment procedures through his Apple device, normally an
iPhone. It is really simple how the system works: the costumer chooses the
product with the help of the Specialist, and the Specialist gets it for the
client. The client pays directly with the Specialist. There is no reason to
worry because there are a great number of Specialists working simultaneously
and the receipts are sent electronically for you and also given printed. Bellow
all the wood tables there are printers for the receipts. It really shows one of
the most famous concepts of Apple, which is to always try to make things
simple. With such a simple system they prevent most of the lines related to
buying inside the store. It provides a comfortable way for buying for the
costumers, avoid crowds and provides standard organization to the store. That
buying system also gives the feeling of a V.I.P. treatment while making a
purchase. Making the costumer feel exceptionally important gives them the
message that Apple is right for them, and that the company is loyal to that
costumer if that costumer chooses to be loyal to the company.
As if it was not enough to provide the
Apple experience to the clients, the Apple Retail Stores offer classes, free
workshops and a variety of personalized ways to buy products. They have a
schedule of free workshops that provides the costumers all the information
needed to learn about their products and software. They also give directions on
the way to use the products in order to achieve some specific user preference.
The costumers are able to buy by themselves and select accessories they choose
in the store by an application on their iPhones called Easy Pay. The clients
just have to scan the barcode and complete the transaction. There is also what
they call the Personal Pickup system, in which the costumer buys the product
online and pick it up in the Retail Store. Due to many personalizations in
buying, Apple really innovates and gives the costumers the freedom to buy as
they think is most suitable for them. Besides
workshops, Apple tries to show concern with the clients in another ways in the
retail store. They provide what they call Business Team, which is a team that
is able to help the client with his business. The client can meet the Business
Team by attending events in the store or scheduling an appointment, called a
Briefing. With this, Apple not only gives personalized treatment for normal
clients but also for business clients. It shows how versatile their way to
catch the loyalty of the costumers is; they have tech support and extra learning
activities for any type of costumer, from the beginners to the experts, and
also business clients.
All the features that the Apple Retail
Store holds are really impressive and really give the costumers the Apple
Experience, based on their concepts of simplicity and quality. Unlikely other
stores, is easy to see how they value the costumer experience inside the store.
“People come to the Apple Store for the experience — and they're willing to pay
a premium for that.” (Ron Johnson). That explains why people choose Apple Store
instead of many other places like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target, even if that
places carry most of the Apple products and offer discounts in various ways.
Fabio Lanza, a Computer Science student
at University of Kentucky, Apple Store costumer, and monthly visitor spoke in a
personal interview about his experience at Apple Store. When asked about what
makes the Apple Store a different place to buy from others he said: “They do
a lot, but especially the way they put the customer satisfaction at first
place, sometimes even before profits. For instance, when you purchase a new
device from Apple, the salesman just does a little rupture at the sealing
plastic, and leave all the unwrapping part to the customer, so they can feel
how is to open a brand new product, and I don`t remember of that happening at any
other retail, ever.” This act of letting the costumer open the product by
himself shows how Apple values the costumer experience. This is a small thing that happens inside the
store that helps to make the place a differentiated place. In his interview, Fabio
said that Apple Store is an example to be followed for the retail business.
Fabio is only one of millions of Apple’s costumers around the world who visits
the Retail Store often, but is not hard to find out that Apple costumers are
loyal and it they are really proud about that. So what explains so much success
in selling and catching loyalty?
Simon Sinek has a really good and
simple, but powerful model that explains why Apple is successful in selling
their products. He holds a model that explains why some organizations and some
leaders are able to inspire while others are not. Using this model he explains
that people don’t buy “What” you do, but “Why” you do it, and most of the
companies sell “What” or “How.” These three things are related in what he calls
“The Golden Circle,” which is a big circle divide in three rings with the
“What” on the edge, “How” in the middle, and “Why” in the center. By “Why” he
doesn’t mean profit, for him, it is a result. The “Why” means what is the
purpose, what is the cause, what is the belief behind it. It is easy to
perceive in the Apple Retail Stores how Apple tries to sell the “Why.” They
care about the costumer experience inside the store in order to show how their
products are important and influence the costumer’s life. They try to show,
with all that experience, not only “What” they sell, but also “Why” they sell
it, and this is what catches the costumers' attention, unlike the other stores
that only try to sell “What” they do or “How” they do it. The other stores simply show their products
in shelves and only offer an explanation of the “Why”. Apple’s first appealing
is for what the product does for your life, why it is important. Why it is a
need. After that, they show the product, the “How” and the “What”. By Sinek’s
model, the best way to sell is starting from the core of the Golden Circle,
with “Why”, passing through “How” and ending in the edge, with “What”. “People
don’t buy what you do, but why you do it, and what you do simply proves what
you believe.” (Sinek, Simon)
Combined with the good technology, innovation
and quality, a reflex of market success is that Apple products have become a
trend in the world, and everybody wants them. Being an Apple costumer nowadays
is synonymous with having status and modernity. In a general way, to go to the
Apple Retail Store became a rule while walking in the mall; even if you are not
buying anything in the store, you can’t pass without entering in just to see
what is new or to try some device. It seems that the way of selling matches
exactly to that trend, the experience of buying and feeling V.I.P is really
comfortable for who is only buying for status. Combining the fame that their
products got, all the store features, and costumer service features inside the
store, Apple is able to provide a better and unique buying experience than
other companies. Innovation is a word to define the Apple Retail Store, just
walk in there and it is easy to see that is a unique store, different from the
majority not only because of the design itself, but the whole environment.
After analyzing that space it is undeniable that that the Apple Store is changing
patterns in what concerns retail business in the world. They are not only
innovating but also showing a new and broad vision about selling. Buying in a
different level of experience, without lines, with face to face tech support,
always with a V.I.P. feeling in a clean environment, are the main meanings
behind all details inside the store. The Apple Store doesn’t sell the cheapest
products. Rather, they sell quality products and always try to get the
costumer's loyalty, focusing not only in physical features, but also in what
concerns their costumer’s treatment. That’s why they invest a lot in the
customer experience – to make it worth the money – and it is working.
Works
Cited
Apple Retail Store. Apple
Inc., 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. <http://www.apple.com/retail/>
Browning,
E.S., Steven Russolillo and Jessica E. Vascellaro. “Apple Now Biggest-Ever U.S.
Company”. The Wall Street Journal (2012): n. pag. Web. 25 Oct. 2012.
“How Great leaders inspire
action.” Sinek, Simon. Ted: Ideas worth spreading. TED Conferences LLC,
May 2010. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html>
Johnson,
Ron. “What I Learned Building the Apple Store.” Harvard Business Review. Harvard
Business School Publishing, 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.
Lanza,
Fabio. Personal interview. 14 Nov. 2012.
