Apple to push customers from its stores to its site
The Apple product launch has become a cultural touchstone as familiar as the Black Friday mob scene. Fans form queues outside of Apple Stores that stretch down numerous blocks. They wake early to get a good spot, while others camp out. Entrepreneurs have even begun to sell their services as professional line-waiters, charging hourly rates to stand in as proxies.
However, the "big splash" product launch may become a thing of Apple’s past. In a recently leaked memo obtained by Business Insider, Apple indicates it will aim for more measured launches and push customers to go online to buy their devices instead of its stores.
A portion of the memo, reportedly from Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts, reads: "The days of waiting in line and crossing fingers for a product are over for our customers. The Apple Store app and our online store make it much easier to purchase Apple Watch and the new MacBook. Customers will know exactly when and where their product arrives." It goes on to encourage Apple Store staff to tell customers to order their products online rather than waiting in line.
A TechCrunch article on the memo speculates the memo could, on one hand, pertain solely to the two products named. And yet Ms. Ahrendts may see successful product fulfillment as trumping headline-grabbing launch events.
Other contemporary boutique products also have a reputation for lines that have taken on a life of their own. At the height of the Cronut craze, for instance, data scientist Sheila Christine Lee reported on Quora (later reprinted on the Huffington Post) that she lined up outside of the Dominique Ansel bakery at 6 a.m. behind 60 others. While waiting, she was interviewed by a news program from The Netherlands and witnessed a man offering a woman $100 for one of the limited-run pastries.
But given how public opinion can swing from morbid curiosity to exhaustion when it comes to faddish events, perhaps its a forward-thinking move by Apple to reduce the spectacle surrounding its new product launches.
One also wonders if Ms. Ahrendts, who was formerly CEO of U.K. luxury retailer Burberry, finds frenzied product launches incompatible with the aesthetic changes that will accompany the Apple Watch.
- Angela Ahrendts has told Apple employees ‘a significant change in mindset’ is coming to the way the company launches products – Business Insider
- Leaked Memo Says Apple Will Push Retail Store Shoppers Online – TechCrunch
- Don’t Want to Wait in Line for iPhone 6? Hire This Guy to Do it for You – ABC News
- What Is The Cronut Experience Like? – The Huffington Post
Discussion Questions
Do you think it would be a smart or dumb move for Apple to reduce the spectacle that accompanies new product launches at its stores? How will convincing customers to shift to its website for purchases affect Apple’s retail operations?
Ms. Ahrendts has it right. Every approach gets tired after a while and we get tired of it. I think the best strategy is to mix it up, but do so with strategic intention. If it’s a product no one has seen before then use the big show to launch it. If it’s simply an improvement or extension of a known product, then this quieter pre-order approach makes better sense.
Shifting to websites makes sense for Apple. It allows the company to better manage inventory and conduct business as usual in its stores. It allows consumers to know that they will get one of the coveted devices and know exactly when it will arrive. All that said, some people want to be part of a spectacle. Those folks will continue to line up regardless of what Apple does.
If you view this as a means of building ubiquitous connection, it all makes sense. Strategically, store assets can be added, deleted, reshaped and re-tasked. This concept is gong to be an increasing influence on the next generation—so either you get prepared and shape it or you close your eyes, bury your head and take it.
The number of combinations of watches and wrist straps is likely the driving factor here. It would just be expensive to have all that inventory on hand for a mob, especially when you can’t say which units/colors will sell best.
I tried the “make a reservation at a store” feature this morning and I bailed out of it. A fifteen minute time slot to go look at a nice-to-have item is just too much complexity for me. The notion that I have to wait for my order to ship to my home after going into a store is also a bit weird.
It doesn’t hurt them to create scarcity, though. It takes guts to make people wait, and they are definitely doing that.
Well, it’s certainly a smart move from an operations and financial perspective. But I do like Ian’s “mix it up” point. Many in the younger generation actually LIKE the “sport” of the new product release store frenzy—Foot Locker, the Under Armour Shanghai store and many others capitalize on this. Balance both options but don’t lose sight of the badge/exclusivity culture trend that some people really gravitate to.
I’m kinda surprised Ms Ahrendts did not use some of her luxury savvy and set up private viewings or viewing parties by invitation only, etc. pre sale day, then have actual sales take place online.
There are plenty of fan boys/girls out there who would have come and even paid to come. There is something to be said for a spectacle if done right and for the right audience. Don’t think the high-end spenders who are most likely to purchase the watch are the standing-in-line types though.
And that’s my 2 cents.
I wouldn’t say dumb, but given Apple has one of the highest revenue/square foot metrics in retail and the accompanying news that follows a product launch, I would be inclined to keep the in store spectacle going while at the same time making it clear for folks that online is another channel to purchase through.
Consumers make up their own mind and clearly a great many really embrace the in store experience at Apple, even though it involves waiting. A true omni channel retailer would keep all channels available for its customers as long as order flow is strong.
Any time you can get consumers to line up and pay full price is the best event ever in retail. Few retailers have ever achieved such success. Yes there are promotions that can achieve similar results, but the discounts are deep. The only concern is to not disappoint the consumer by being out of stock.
To dumb down makes no retail sense. The retailer is missing out on the additional purchases the early adopters buy even when they don’t know if they need them. I can see pushing the Apple watch to the internet due to the 400 variations of the product. Stocking all variations and not being out of stock for a new item is difficult at best. Pushing consumer to the internet only increases Apple’s profits. New or first time buyers will likely purchase in the store. Replacement purchases and add-on products will move to the internet. Either way, Apple does not lose.
Angela Ahrendts was anything but spectacle-averse during her tenure at Burberry, however, the drama was channeled into brand-building runway shows, grand global store openings, and in-store digital wizardry and live performances. In other words, it was all about wowing, not waiting. At the same time, the dynamic duo of Ahrendts and Bailey struck an amazing balance between democratizing the Burberry brand and bringing back its cache. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Efficiency is a forward thinking move. This push by Apple executives to encourage staff to tell customers to go online and buy the Apple Watch and new MacBook is spot-on, and makes both coveted products easier to get, faster. I love it.
Waiting in a long line is not participating in a headline grabbing launch event. It is merely wasting time.