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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Chapter 15. What Should Nokia Learn From Apple About Retailing?

Retailing is defined as all the activities directly related to the sale of goods and services to the ultimate consumer for personal, nonbusiness use.

It is sad to know that Nokia's stores were closed in United States since company is suffering from the lack of innovation to fight with IPhones. I decided to go ahead and dedicate this post to an actual competitor of Nokia the Apple, Inc.
The main Apple retail store is located in the heart of the City at 59th Street and 5th Avenue steps away from the Central Park. This place is always full of tourists and usual new yorkers. The store attracts your sight by its original design. A logo on the white square makes you remember the motto "Think outside the box" and this is exactly what Apple applied for designing its core retail location.  The stairs and the modern elevator make you feel like you are entering not just a regular store but a future world of technology. The inside has a very simple but yet sophisticated design. White walls make you feel like you are in the laboratory and are witnessing the products of the great effort of many brilliant computer genius. The store is separated into three major sections: tech support, training area and sales area. My first fascinating was a number of sales representatives that are there to assist you. Every one of them is assigned to his/hers specialty area. As an Apple customer I was able to ask few of the questions regarding the updates of the software and the improvement of the battery on the laptops. From my interaction with the sales assistants it was easy to conclude that these people not only have the perfect knowledge of the product that they are selling but they also have  exceptional customer's service skills. I was asked if I need any help  by at least 20 people for the whole time spent in the store.  

It is amazing that your experience in the store is not just limited to buying something. At the same location you can receive a proper training on how to operate any of the high technology devices sold there. Personal approach to the customer is a key to success in the case of Apple. Also there is a special event calendar that you can grab and glance through quickly. Some of the events for the month of October feature New York Film Festival, meeting with a musician Jack Mannequin and animation artist Liz Artinian.

In conclusion, I want to highlight that Apple stores represent a chain ownership of specialized stores with unique and narrow assortment of products. Customer is surrounded with high level of service and even though the Apple products are on the high price range the company is still able to show high gross margins.

1 comment:

  1. good information more about nokia windows phone
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    ReplyDelete