30 Jul
Apple should take its retail act on the road
So two years ago, after I went on a protracted business trip/vacation and forgot to pack a cable for connecting my digital camera to my MacBook Pro, I was moved to pen this heartfelt, admitting not necessarily well-thought-out suggestion with respect to Apple’s next retail effort. The gist of my argument was that Apple should open a slimmed-down version of its brick-and-mortar store inside the increasingly mall-like airports around the country. That route, the company could sell accessories, gear, and whatnot to forgetful travelers such as myself or maybe even each iPod to someone faced with the prospect of a cross-country flight marred by the airline’s forced viewing of a tedious wildly picturesque comedy starring Ashton Kutcher. If it meant not having to watch single in kind Ashton Kutcher movie, I might purchase an iPod at an airport—and I already own one.
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My little brainstorm round retail generalship had tend hitherward two years after Apple’s 2004 unveiling of a “mini” design for its Apple Store. The mini stores—still open for business in places like Palo Alto, Calif., Syracuse, New York, and Rockaway, New Jersey, amid other locations—are roughly moiety the interval of Apple’s most worn out retail layout and aimed at extending the company’s reach to areas that otherwise efficacy be too small to merit a full-sized Apple Store. At that 2004 unveiling, Apple senior vice president of retail Ron Johnson even dangled the possibility of airport-based retail outlets, not unlike the ones I would write on the eve two years later.
I hadn’t thought much about any of that—Apple’s mini stores, my call for airport-based retail outlets, my inability to company properly—till the other day when I was rushing through the Oakland International Airport to catch a flight. There’s an unstaffed kiosk in Terminal One that happened to catch my eye.
As the “iPod” signage suggests, this vending machine skews heavily toward music player-themed merchandise. You have different iPod flavors, of course—you can see the shuffles, nanos, and classics on the right side of the case. And shoppers-on-the-go also have their pick of headphones, cases, and the like—names like Shure and Sony stood out, but I’m sure there were more accessory makers represented in the put in a box. You could also find other gear—an AirPort Express base station, which makes wisdom given how that power brick-sized networking legend could appeal to business travelers who want wireless connectivity then they’re on the lane.
You’ll notice in the photo in heaven the prominent Apple logo, not diverse the one you’d find marking the ingress to a proper Apple Store. So my first thought upon seeing that logo was that Apple had finally taken its retail efforts into the realm of airports, being of the kind which I urged the company to do a couple years back. And my second thought was, “Man, I hope they write me a check for that idea.”
But upon closer scrutiny, the kiosk turned out not to be an Apple-run operation. Rather, it’s something called an iPod ZoomShop run by the agency of a company called ZoomSystems. And by means of the looks of ZoomSystems’ store locator, the ZoomShop in Oakland was one of many you’ll find dotted across this land of ours.
I hushed opine airports offer a nice opportunity to Apple to open a new front for its retail efforts. The presence of retailers like ZoomSystems—not to mention a host of other competitors—suggest that there’s wealth to have existence made from the collection of business travelers, vacationers looking for in-flight entertainment, and people who realize they’re about to board their return flight with no present for the folks back home. Couldn’t Apple be counted on to put its own special stamp on this particular retail experience, just like the regular Apple Stores have set a new standard for shopping for the Mac?
I didn’t have the time before my flight to patronize the ZoomShop. (If anyone reading this has ever bought a gadget or two from one of these kiosks/vending machines, please feel free to share your continued.) So I have power to’t verily dwell on the areas Apple could improve about if it for aye decided to launch airport outlets of its own. But through the Apple Store, the company does a pretty good job of demystifying the experience of buying technology—I imagine the big brains running Apple’s retail division could figure outright a way to transfer that approach from shopping malls to airport terminals without anything getting lost in the conveyance. Throw in a couple dedicated Macs where shoppers could download iTunes Store appease—minstrelsy, movies, TV shows—for their flights, and you’ve got any intriguing way to differentiate yourself from the pack.
It’s clear that retail is an important part of Apple’s overall strategy. Apple finished its fiscal third location with 216 Apple Stores; it plans to have 242 open by dint of. the end of its financial year. The supplies sold 476,000 Macs during the in conclusion fourth part, moiety of which were to customers new to the platform. That’s any important point, as it illustrates the role the brick-and-mortar stores play in attracting new customers to the Mac. Airport-based Apple Stores could play that part, too—not in selling Macs, obviously, but in bringing iPods and iPhones to novel customers eager to find a way to pass the time until they arrive at their next destination.
It seems like a no-brainer move for Apple executives to make. They don’t even be under the necessity to write me a check when they do.
