You walk in and someone who has a tablet asks what you’re looking for, then calls someone else with a tablet to explain. Marketing does the sales job for Apple, you already drank the Kool-Aid before coming in.

And frankly, with the number of iPhone Xs sold in the first quarter of 2018 sliding to 60 percent, down from 78 percent, I would think Ahrendts should be looking at how to sell their merchandise; empathy only gets you so far.

People’s expectations (as purchasers, consumers and investors) have been raised. Businesses must operate with multiple goals in mind, not just with a focus on the almighty dollar. Embedding “purpose” in everything you do is critical to the long-term sustainability of business. This is not just a trend, but a macro-force that will shape the relationship between businesses, shoppers and consumers for decades to come.

It’s a more interesting question than it might seem on the surface. It’s easy to say “heck no … corporations exist to increase shareholder wealth, and that has nothing to do with higher purposes” but the times are changing. Stores really CAN act as a community hub, and that’s very desirable and will ultimately help their top lines. We at RSR believe community is a key part of today’s selling process. We have seen retailers like REI and Patagonia actually taking a stand in their communities. Ditto with Costco and The Container Store. The former stand for helping the environment and encouraging people to move around instead of just sitting in the house. The latter stand for being really respectful to all their stakeholders, including and especially their employees. Both are important. So while Apple’s iPhone X sales may be down (what were they thinking? A thousand-dollar phone for the mass market?), there is absolute truth in needing to be enmeshed in the community. None of this implies that Apple is “humanizing technology” and that… Read more »

Not surprising coming from a company that was an innovator of retail operations and retail concepts. It is also true and many have been talking about it. Most retailers do not hire correctly because they are stale, or they are too large to have enough qualified applicants, or because they don’t want pay what it would take or because their associate training programs are not up to the task. This is an area of great potential for both retailers and for those who would train retailers on how to hire and train.

Angela Ahrendts is simply saying that retailers need to add value to survive. For some — like the phenomenally successful dollar stores — this value is about convenience and ultra-low prices. For others, with higher price points, the value has to be somewhere else — in service, in exclusive products, in solving issues that the consumer has and so on.

For Apple, the added value comes in how people use and engage with their products. As such, stores reflect this: they are places of learning, discovery and of experience. The more Apple immerses people in its brand and products, the more likely they are to be loyal and see value in what Apple is offering.

That said, there are some downsides. The lack of registers causes stress for some customers, especially when the store is busy and it is hard to find a free Apple associate. Moreover, Apple’s technology updates are becoming more incremental and less revolutionary — that’s slowing the sales cycle and will eventually impact store performance.

Put simply, to be successful over the long term companies today need to differentiate along a new set of dimensions than the ones that had worked in the past. Retailers and any consumer-facing companies are operating in a very different business environment in which the means of differentiation go well beyond traditional item, packaging, pricing and promotions. Even from a macro level, harnessing speed or being a low-cost provider are necessary as strategic prongs but aren’t sufficient by themselves. Companies need to help their customers connect beyond strict transactional reasons and answer a more compelling “why.” Why should the customer associate with your brand or commit time and money to your stores or website? The level of consumer sophistication, massive access, transparency and the sharing of information, are changing the equation of what “selling” has become today and how it will change even more tomorrow. No company can survive if it doesn’t generate revenue through sales or services; how it does that is what’s changing and it’s disrupting more than the classic sales process, it’s… Read more »

Ahrendts is absolutely correct. A customer becomes a customer by the retailer building connections and relationships. It is a long-term investment for a long-term relationship. The sales will take care of themselves.

Straight “selling” might give the retailer one sale then the customer is on to the next retailer.

“Purpose” is hopefully embedded into the brand promise somehow. If your product or brand doesn’t have purpose then some other similar product or brand will, and thereby have a better shot at connecting emotionally with the customer.

This will be one of my shortest responses because there’s been great coverage.

Yes there HAS to be a bigger purpose, and their folks on the front-line have to maximize that. Unless you need a device same-day, why else go buy any Apple product when there’s virtually no customization offered in-store? You can buy it through the Apple app, pay with Apple Pay and have a drink in the other hand!

How much more fulfilling is the experience for employees when they’re enriching lives vs. selling things? That deeper intention flows through to the customer experience and it’s a large part of what makes the Apple retail experience so attractive. The end result of selling products might be entirely the same, but how retailers arrive there makes all the difference.

“…But in the next five years … 75 percent of the people will shop online — shop — but 75 percent of the business will still be done in physical stores.” Ms. Ahrendts’ point is insightful and compelling. While people “shop” online in ever increasing regularity, most “business” will still be transacted in a physical store environment with people. It is worth noting and understanding the definition of “shop,” “retail,” and “business” in the context of being digital. This understanding will lead to designing an inspiring community retail environment relevant for today’s and tomorrow’s community of digitally-empowered shoppers and customers.

I’m concerned for Apple. Ms. Ahrendt’s comments reflect “business as usual” for a retailer these days — lots of warm words about purpose and rising above product with little substance in them. My last experience in an Apple store shows that they’ve fallen badly from a few years ago. That said, “just selling” minimizes a very big thing. My time as a salesman taught me how many things are involved with selling — goodwill, likability, reminding people of all kinds of value or emotion connected with the products, etc. My time as a salesman also taught me that if we focused ONLY on those things, the deal is lost. There are a lot of things that work in service of selling more product. But don’t ever lose the focus: they are there to help sell the product. And wrapping back around to my most recent store experience … I think Apple had better hiring when they didn’t overtly make a big deal of searching out “empathy” because their staffing is less effective than it was… Read more »

Apple is a luxury brand, and it is every luxury brand’s aspiration to become more than just a product or more than just a store for their customers. They each want to claim to make their customers’ lives better and enriched in a meaningful way. Does this mean every brand should share this aspiration? Maybe. I’m not sure you could argue a dollar store views themselves this way. They might sum it up as “bringing value to our customers every day” or something similar. In some ways, what Ahrendts isn’t telling us anything new — retail is absolutely about creating shared experiences with customers to establish a long-term relationship. Apple does this far better than most brands today. It is interesting to see “empathy” identified as an important trait for their store associates. Most retailers likely only look for “good salespeople” and fail to realize the important effect the associates have on sales overall. Whether Apple successfully measures empathy in their associates or not isn’t the important fact here — it’s that they realize this… Read more »

Absolutely. It depends what you sell but generally I agreed. Retailers needs to develop a unique seamless experience along the customer journey. We can see at many retailers that associates are not really motivated or knowledgable enough to offer a good service or advice. It is also a question of salary. You pay less, you get less quality. It is as simple as that. A very good example of motivated and customer-oriented associates are employees at IKEA. As customer, you can see and feel that the associates have not just a job at the furniture giant. Each associate is part of the IKEA community and team and share the company values. It is the same with the Apple sales associate. They becomes a strong advantage for the company, as they are the ultimate contact person to the customer.

The role of the retail store must continue to evolve and focus on sharing information, educating on the products and services sold, and providing service and support. Humans still have a need for face-to-face interaction with others and the ability to touch, feel, trial, query, and get support builds confidence in a particular product. That confidence translates into multiple purchases over time and higher brand loyalty.

Apple is correct to adapt their hiring practices to focus on those who can deliver on a personal level and communicate care and empathy. Let’s not forget however that anytime we use Apple, Amazon, Walmart or Starbucks as an example for others to follow, that these are power brands with far more resources and brand magnetism than is available to most retailers.

The tricky part of these conversations is not whether Apple is doing it right, they are, but what part of their execution can be adopted by other retailers with a smaller resource pool and more mundane brand presence.