Had a few drinks recently with a store manager who reckons 25% of stores are loss making , not least of all regents street which has 500 staff all told . I was surprised TBH given the amount of stuff purchased on line.
that said the customer service experience and knowledge of staff and technicians is second to none in my experience, unlike PC world or whatever it’s called these days .
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Most of the shops on Bond Street and Regent Street and are expensive advertising operations where the rent is so extortionate it's almost impossible for them to be profitable. This is especially true of the expensive fashion shops that sell half a dozen items a day.
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The business model does not need or really intend that the stores to make a profit.
HTH
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Wible you may be right, he kinda said the same thing it’s more about the advertising proposition. But still he said that to spend millions on several store fit outs and employ hundreds of staff that mainly serve window shoppers is a bit mad . Everyone knows of apple products .
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They are loss leaders to tempt you into buying into the Apple ecosystem. Same as kindles and echos sold for a loss.
The customer service in them used to be even better e.g. free shop soiled ipads/ipods because they felt bad for you when yours was water damaged, but like the John Lewis vouchers for going into labour in store they've had to abandon all that because of aunts taking the piss.
Currys once sold me the wrong iphone (6 instead of a 6S), and only relented when I emailed a director whose email address I had guessed.
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Bananaman I am a relatively late convert to apple products / Mac books and would never go back . They replaced an iPhone when it was out of warranty even though it was water damaged . I told them I briefly dropped it in to some shallow water for 2 seconds. The guy said it is water damaged but I can’t see it .
also my MacBook started over heating and battery life went to pot. He pointed out it had been near a heat source as the battery compartment was ever so slightly distorted. He showed me and I couldn’t tell he just replaced it, no questions asked . And when I call them they fix so much stuff remotely .
Their phone customer service is ace . Whereas go to pc world and they are clueless and just want to “fix “ your device by taking it in and charging hundreds of pounds to “fix”it
i have never come across such impeccable customer service
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Yes I agree. It's just sad when they have to take precautions or remove a benefit because bellends discover "loopholes" via the web.
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Oh and never had a virus on my MacBook or spyware ever .
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They are just advertising boards, as others have said. Apple doesn't really care if they make a profit. They are hardly your typical high street retailer.
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Chambers indeed, but still they have an eye always on the bottom line. Every time I visit a Apple store it is swarming with staff, whose staffs time are taken up by endless tyre kickers. My mate said the same plenty of timewasters.
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Then they go back home and order the stuff online.
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Chambers, true, but begs the question why they have to have vastly expensive stores , with huge foot prints and loads of staff.
Nowadays one goes in to an Apple Store, knowing they want an Apple product in the main. It is not a case of shall I buy an Iphone or a Nokia right?
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Personally, I do like the experience of buying in store and the huge amount of useful help and assistance they gibe you.
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lol yes they all make money. They are the most profitable retailer by square foot in the world and it's not even close, they make something like double what Tiffany's do.
It helps that they barely even pay rent on a lot of their stores, especially ones in shopping malls. They're the ultimate anchor tenant and basically get given the space by mall owners.
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Pancakes, are you sure they don't pay market rent? My friend told me about them being in Selfridges, and they wanted all the control over the space as did Apple unsurprisingly. Apple wanted a huge bench in their Premises,and Selfridges kept prevaracating , so Apple late at night smashed a window and installed the table. Apple apparently said "just send us the bill" I have no idea if what he said is correct, but it is not beyond the bounds of possibilities.
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It's going to depend on the location. I'm sure in Selfridges they may well pay, but somewhere like a Westfield they will give up anything to have an Apple store.
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no I have never done either 3 ???. I hope that assists.
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I can see how the smaller regional ones are profitable selling high value goods from a relatively small shop with lots of part-time staff who love the products and and will work for peanuts if they get a good staff discount.
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Cribbs Causeway Apple packed weekends
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Loss leader stores can make sense if no parallel imports and single brand and tight ditribution rules. So that it doesn't matter if people go and buy online. Vertical integration innit
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The existence of a store network full of helpful staff is an incentive to buy apple products, doesn't matter from that point of view whether customers buy in the shop or not - it is part of the after sale care that justifies (and is paid for by) the premium price of the product. I had always assumed most apple shops run at a loss.
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Fair point crouch
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I was thinking earlier Regents Street probably does a reasonable trade in tourists buying stuff then reclaiming the tax at the airport on the way home.
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