Apple Thoughts: What is it About the Apple Store?

Photo credit: Vincent Ferrari

In 2006, Apple opened the most dramatically designed store ever conceived. On the front steps of FAO Schwartz, CBS, and GM, they built a glass cube with a suspended glowing Apple logo. When you follow the staircase down into the store, you see a retail experience that has been, at times, been called a model for consumer electronics retailers. At the time the "cube" as it's referred to opened, Apple was averaging $4,000 of sales per square foot of retail floor space, a staggering number that put them in the company of such high-end retailers as Neiman Marcus ($611 per square foot), Best Buy ($966 per square foot), and even New York City icon Tiffany and Company ($2,666 per square foot). When you think about it, the numbers are staggering. This brings up the obvious question: why are the Apple retail stores so successful? In my opinion, you don't need a degree in business or economics to answer this question.

Demo Models Actually Work
It stands to reason that if you're an electronics retailer, you should have demo models of your wares on the selling floor. Apple takes this to the extreme and has every single item for sale on the sales floor, and sometimes at multiple places. When you stand in front of an iMac or a MacBook, you can fully experience what it does and how it works. Each computer on the showroom floor is loaded with not only the factory configuration of included software, but a few titles available in the software section of the site. You won't find broken keyboards, missing mice, and the other depressing computer destruction you often find in big-box outlets or places like Best Buy because Apple employees are constantly swapping out bad keyboards and mice and making sure people aren't abusing the computers. Instead of putting them off in a neglected corner of the store, they're front and center where they're cared for and maintained. I think I speak for anyone here when I say it's always more comfortable buying something you can actually try out, and that's what sold me on my MacBook Pro.

Photo credit: Apple.com

No Pressure = More Sales
It seems counterintuitve, but the fact that you can walk into an Apple Store and spend as much time as you need with the product you're looking to buy means you won't be forced to explain your presence every thirty seconds. You can even think about the item and then ask about it, rather than having to constantly have your thought process interrupted by someone asking "Do you have any questions?" Employees maintain a good distance and don't sit on you waiting to pounce, and I think people appreciate it. Are there a lot of teenage girls who run into the Apple Store to take MySpace photos? Of course, but seeing as they're pulling down $4,000 per square foot of space, it's obvious those types aren't affecting sales.