My Macbook Pro has had multiple battery problems this year. It’s been a bummer but the genius bar at the SoHo store has helped immensely. I scheduled my appointments in advance using the online reservation system, received help from friendly staffers, and was given two brand new batteries at no charge. I was annoyed by the problems, but the level of support definitely helped turn a negative situation into one that at least makes me feel like Apple’s got my back. It’s really reassuring to know I can go somewhere and get instant help if/when the shit hits the fan.
According to “Inside Apple Stores, a Certain Aura Enchants the Faithful,” I’m not alone in feeling this way. The article describes how personal attention is driving tons of growth at Apple’s stores.
(Some numbers: Apple’s stock is up nearly 135 percent for the year. 20 percent of its revenue comes from its physical stores and that number is growing: The stores accounted for $1.25 billion of Apple’s $6.2 billion in revenues in 2007’s fourth quarter, a 42 percent increase over the previous year.)
The article suggests attentive staff may be the stores’ secret weapon.
But the secret formula may be the personal attention paid to customers by sales staff. Relentlessly smiling employees roam the floor, carrying hand-held terminals for instant credit-card swiping. Technicians work behind the so-called genius bar, ministering to customers’ ailing iPods, MacBooks and iPhones. Others, designated “personal trainers,” give one-on-one instruction and lead workshops.
Personal shoppers are available by appointment, and last month the company took the concept of personalized service to a new level, with concierge teams stationed throughout each store.
“They’ve become the Nordstrom of technology,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at Jupiter Research, referring to the department store that is known for its service.
Ron Johnson, Apple’s senior vice president for retail, said he believed the high level of service played a large role in the success of the stores.
“The idea is that while people love to come to retail stores, and they do it all the time, what they really appreciate the most is that undivided personal attention,” Mr. Johnson said. The result is far fewer qualms among consumers about paying premium prices: $30 for an iPhone case, $200 for an iPod Nano or $1,200 for a computer.
The article also includes an anecdote about a would-be author who wrote her manuscript at the SoHo store.
Apple stores encourage a lot of purchasing, to be sure. But they also encourage lingering, with dozens of fully functioning computers, iPods and iPhones for visitors to try — for hours on end.
The policy has given some stores, especially those in urban neighborhoods, the feel of a community center. Two years ago, Isobella Jade was down on her luck, living on a friend’s couch and struggling to make it as a fashion model when she had the idea of writing a book about her experience as a short woman trying to break into the modeling business.
Unable to afford a computer, Ms. Jade, 25, began cadging time on a laptop at the Apple store in the SoHo section of Manhattan. Ms. Jade spent hours at a stretch standing in a discreet corner of the store, typing. Within a few months, she had written nearly 300 pages.
Not only did store employees not mind, but at closing time they often made certain to shut Ms. Jade’s computer down last, to give her a little extra time. A few months later, the store invited her to give an in-store reading from her manuscript.
One analyst sums up the stores’ success this way: “Everything about it works.”
“Whenever we ask consumers to cite a great retail experience, the Apple store is the first store they mention,” said Jane Buckingham, president of the Intelligence Group, a market research firm in Los Angeles. “Basically, everything about it works. The people who work there are cool and knowledgeable. They have the answers you want, and can sell you what you need. Customers appreciate that. Even the fact that they’ll e-mail you a receipt makes you feel like you’re in a store just a little bit further ahead of everyone else.”
john
on 28 Dec 07I have to agree whole heartedly! When I purchased my iMac the level of service was amazing. I didn’t feel like the guy was trying to sell me anything, and I didn’t feel rushed. All of the tech support/applecare I have recieved is worth the extra cost to speak to someone in America that I don’t struggle to understand. I am not trying to bad mouth other countries or accents, but if I can’t understand the person reading from a script with no technical knowledge, tech support is useless.
Jon Williams
on 28 Dec 07All true enough, the smiling service and genius bar are excellent, but there is a downside with Apple’s approach to retail. Those uber-sleek stores come at a cost. If you’ve ever tried to quickly purchase a laptop, desktop or display the wait typically exceeds 20-30 mins because no stock is kept on the main floor. It’s all in a basement or storage area and has to be ordered up to the checkout level. A small complaint certainly, but one that has irked me on several occasions.
MikeInAZ
on 28 Dec 07I think of Apple like I do of American Express. I know if I ever get into a jam, they will do/try their best to fix the problem. I once had a fraudulent charge on my CapitalOne card, something like $5, after I reported it, I felt like a criminal. Had to sign and fax a bunch of forms. On the other hand, with AMEX or Apple, using their support was virtually painless. I know no product is perfect, so when something goes wrong, I’m pretty patient and understanding. Recently had to call Ultreo (ultrasound toothbrush) and they were also very easy to deal with. They sent me a replacement without a lot of fuss. I think some companies are learning and some are stuck in adversarial mode with their customers.
Dave Davis
on 28 Dec 07I think that wait varies by store… at the Cincinnati store, your comments don’t apply. Yes, the stock is mostly in back (for computers, if not iPods), but aside from the workers getting to it quickly, the time it takes to check out is MUCH shorter than a similar purchase at Staples or CompUSA, simply because the salesperson can handle everything. No waiting for a register, no waiting for a phone line to open up for credit card processing, nothing. Tell them what you want, they get it, and process the sale where you stand!
While I’ve had to wait for a sales person when the store’s exceptionally busy, closing the deal is always fast and easy at our store.
d
tom s.
on 28 Dec 07And what do those handheld terminals run on? Windows Mobile, ironically, as Kevin Benedict points out.
Tony Steward
on 28 Dec 07The lines to get long sometimes in Apple stores, but they do at Starbucks as well. That doesn’t stop people cause we don’t mind waiting for service that shows a value for us and a value for the people that are the community around it. Both of these stores have keyed in on what it means to “belong”, and that is very attractive.
Gary R Boodhoo
on 28 Dec 07its all true and the humanized approach is appreciated. The same approach milked me out of coffee for a year at Starbucks – coffee was fine, but I enjoyed the people who worked there too…
That being said, we’re all busy people. No matter how pleasant the experience is, returning an QA issue to an intermediate point of purchase location is inconvenient. Unforeseen things happen, that’s a fact of life, but personally would have preferred for greater quality control re: the battery issue in the first place.
The anecdote re: the woman being allowed to use a computer and give an in-store reading is nice. My first experience with computers was “timeshared” in a similar fashion at Radio Shack (TRS-80 Model 1 baby!)
Dave
on 28 Dec 07I had the opposite feeling after dealing with the Apple Store. I was annoyed by the “personal” attention. When my laptop broke, I expected to spend 15 minutes at the Apple Store – walk in, explain the problem, drop off the computer, and get a call to pick it up once they fixed it.
Instead I ended up spending 2+ hours getting personal attention from a “genius”. Full story: http://www.imarc.net/communique/view/336/genius_bar
I’d prefer if Apple took the approach of most support centers – be helpful, fast, efficient, and fix the problem. Fixing the problem quickly makes the customer happy, not long personal attention.
David Duran
on 28 Dec 07I agree as well.
I picked up a new iMac with the Leopard Launch and was dismayed to hear a bizarre crackling sound periodically when it was on. It was annoying to have to take it back in but in 20 minutes at the Gensius bar they had taken a look at the problem, decided it was indeed hardware, exhcnaged the computer for another one, moved over the extra GB of ram I’d put in, and squared up the paper work. 20 minutes. Awesome.
When I got home a quick TimeMachine restore put everything back just as I had left it.
I’d rather it had worked perfectly of course, but nothings perfect and when ‘the shit hits the fan’, as you mention… I’ll take snappy friendly service any day.
Bill Erickson
on 28 Dec 07Apple’s in store help is great, unless your hard drive breaks, as Dave Winer recently found out.
Clint Pidlubny
on 28 Dec 07Usually I would agree with there service accept something changed this holiday season with Apple’s checkout process. They removed the “checkouts” at my local Apple Store. There was no longer a logical checkout process. I think anyone can help you checkout, but the day I went in there, no one could help me accept for one checkout person standing behind the roped off, big table in the middle of the store. With 20+ other customers waiting for this one checkout person (minimally 20 other employees standing and walking around assisting customers) I left without making a purchase. It was strange.
Scott
on 28 Dec 07Having literally just returned from one of our local Apple retail stores here in Toronto to pick up my MacBook which needed a touch of help when the logic board and hard drive all of a sudden decided to croak, this post is very timely and nicely sums up most of my thoughts on Apple’s retail stores.
As much as I’ve always had good service at other authorized Apple dealers in the city, it was still a refreshing and pleasant experience to deal directly with Apple in a retail setting to get my MacBook repaired. Booking time with a Genius was simple and the 10 or 15 minutes I spent at the store with him would definitely get excellent marks from me. Given that I have about 18 years of experience with Macs, I know a thing or two and it was nice to see the Genius not talk down to me or treat me like a newbie/luddite.
The service itself was sufficiently fast and I’ve now got my MacBook back in full working order at no cost and without any real hassle. It was easy to see why the store, even after Christmas was still packed with shoppers as it is nearly all year round.
Anonymous Coward
on 28 Dec 07Three weeks ago on Sunday afternoon, literally on the way out the door on a client system install trip scheduled for the next morning 200 miles away, I discovered that the screen on my week-old MacBookPro wouldn’t light up when I opened it to check the hotel phone number.
I had all the files for the install on this thing and had to be on the road. Fortunately, we live 20 minutes from the Albany, NY Apple Store. I walked in mid afternoon Sunday in the heart of the Christmas season to a packed store. The associate heard my story, got the store manager, Dave Fernandez, and in just over an hour and a half I walked out with a brand new MBP with the Leopard OS update installed from their firewire drive and all my files intact and ready to go. I’m a fan for life.
David Andersen
on 29 Dec 07Occasional bad experiences aside, I’m glad Apple is taking this approach, but it’s not like the bar has been set very high by anyone else in tech, especially computers. Most ‘service’ from other PC manufacturers is abysmal and that goes for many tech outfits. One of the reasons I switched from PCs to a MAC in the last 9 months was because of the terrible service I had from Dell.
Simon
on 30 Dec 07Yep, a visit to a Mac store feels more like a visit to a 5-star hotel than to a shop (especially now that they have a concierge service!).
I also like the fact that they have removed registers to make way for extended genius bars. This suggests that they priortise customer support over simply grinding out as many sales as possible.
todd
on 02 Jan 08A great article about how the Apple Stores were designed (like any other Apple product of course):
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/03/19/8402321/index.htm
“One of the best pieces of advice Mickey ever gave us was to go rent a warehouse and build a prototype of a store, and not, you know, just design it, go build 20 of them, then discover it didn’t work,” says Jobs. In other words, design it as you would a product. Apple Store Version 0.0 took shape in a warehouse near the Apple campus. “Ron and I had a store all designed,” says Jobs, when they were stopped by an insight: The computer was evolving from a simple productivity tool to a “hub” for video, photography, music, information, and so forth. The sale, then, was less about the machine than what you could do with it. But looking at their store, they winced. The hardware was laid out by product category – in other words, by how the company was organized internally, not by how a customer might actually want to buy things. “We were like, ‘Oh, God, we’re screwed!’” says Jobs.
But they weren’t screwed; they were in a mockup. “So we redesigned it,” he says. “And it cost us, I don’t know, six, nine months. But it was the right decision by a million miles.” When the first store finally opened, in Tysons Corner, Va., only a quarter of it was about product. The rest was arranged around interests: along the right wall, photos, videos, kids; on the left, problems. A third area – the Genius Bar in the back – was Johnson’s brainstorm.
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