Apple may be revamping its storefronts to promote the Apple Watch, but it won’t be encouraging you to buy one there. Retail head Angela Ahrendts has sent a memo to Apple Store staff asking them to suggest customers use the online store to order both the Apple Watch and 12-inch MacBook. The memo reportedly reflects the fact that store inventory of both products will be very limited when the MacBook goes on sale on Friday and the Apple Watch follows two weeks later.
Ahrendts’ two-paragraph memo aims to put a positive spin on the fact that many customers are likely to be disappointed when trying to purchase the new products, suggesting that pointing them to online purchase will “make their day” …
Ahrendts acknowledges that most customers are used to buying products in Apple Stores, and that shifting sales to the online store will require a “significant change in mindset.”
Get in line online
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.
This is a significant change in mindset, and we need your help to make it happen. Tell your customers we have more availability online, and show them how easy it is to order. You’ll make their day.
The memo was obtained by Business Insider, whose source also told them that U.S. store pickup of the Apple Watch will be discouraged when making pre-orders online, and will not be available at all in the UK.
Retail staff were also sent preview images of the in-store Apple Watch display cabinets, with the watches beneath sheets of glass–the main one an image we first showed you last month.
We’ve collated everything you need to know about trying on, reserving and buying an Apple Watch in our FAQ. The memo can be seen below.
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This chick is the worst hire since J.C. Penney hired Ron Johnson. The oldest axiom in retail is “everybody wants what everybody wants.” No company on Earth could buy the publicity that is generated when the lines queue up for the latest Apple gadget. Local news starts covering it at least 3 days out when the first people show up with their tents at the Apple store. The media covers it every day reaching crescendo on launch day with wall to wall media coverage. Who turns away from this?
I bet there will still be enough people queuing, for them to make the news.
That might have been the case when the first iPhone and iPad came out but I think it’s kind of passé by now. Heck Samsung ran commercials mocking “iSheep” standing outside Apple stores waiting for the new iPhone. Apple is so big now it doesn’t need customers queuing up outside its stores to make news. Plus these days those iPhone lines are filled with scalpers/resellers and that’s what’s making the news more than anything else.
Yeah she put DKNY and Burberry on the map during her tenure heading up both companies. I’m sure that was pure luck on both occasions ;-)
Put Burberry on the map? The company has been in existence for 160 years. Not sure what map your thinking of.
Snap judgement much? Any smart retailer also wants to protect the customer experience. Lines of enthusiastic fans is great – IF you have inventory to make most of them happy.
The Watch has 38 default models for the stores to stock, and will be launching at more retail locations than any other previous launch. Convincing people to get in line and roll the dice would be a horrible idea, set false expectations, and set them up for disappointment.
Because Apple doesn’t need the publicity. Waiting in those long lines for a limited quantity isn’t necessarily fun. Using resources like the online store to check availability (especially with so many models being sold) just makes sense! It makes customers happier and makes the experience easy.
Angela, of course its better to deal with a web, than a human being !!! Close all the stores “you´ll make their day”
Why not look for the good side? She mentioned “crossing fingers for a product”. That means they have enough stocks unlike before.
Of course I can buy online but I think in this day, people are a bit lonley and looking for a sense of community and Apple launches did just that. Everybody in those lines could have easily ordered their stuff online but choose to quee and chitchat and make friends all night. Please don’t take that away and make it the last time you send out such a note.
The problem I have with buying online is that they’re technically two entirely different departments. I had an issue with my iPhone six plus I purchased online. I had it replaced in store twice before finally asking for a refund. The store claimed they couldn’t refund because it was bought online, and the online store said they couldn’t refund because it had been replaced in store. Once Apple have closed that silly gap between the stores, this sort of thing would be okay.
This recommendation is to avoid lengthy lines, such the iPhone. I think is an excellent idea, because majority of the people in NYC (5th Ave Apple Store) that is first on line, is trying to promote their own product. I actually video tape a girl, who bought first spot for the iPhone 6 launch, admitted she didn’t care for Apple line.
Get in line online: 1. nobody likes to hear “get in line”. Sounds like the DMV. 2. We already get in line online when we order something that is not readily available
The days of waiting in line and crossing fingers for a product are over for our customers: 1. If I want to stay in line, that’s my problem. 2. That is a promise you can’t keep (you will always have a shortage of products at some point – new product, shortage of a vital component,…)
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:
1. It’s easier at the store: I talk to a guy in blue, he identifies the right item for me (last time: a $19 adapter for a charger – it was not obvious online to see which one I needed) he gets it for me, he charges my card via Apple Pay or my iTunes account => in and out in 2 minutes.
2. Online is good too, don’t get me wrong. But why disparage the stores and the guys there who are really knowledgeable and helpful? They must have hated to hear that.
This is a significant change in mindset, and we need your help to make it happen: 1. If I was an employee, I would understand that I am going to be fired if I don’t say “go online” to customers, and then that I am going to be laid off when they go online… What a downer!
2. You probably did a cost analysis that shows that it’s 5 times less expensive to fulfill an order online: but why do you think the stores are so popular? why does Bed, Bath and Beyond or Target still have physical stores? Part of Apple’s success is the stores. After the products, but a larger part of the success than TV ads for sure. You did not measure the right metric: look at your market share or your penetration in areas with no Apple store within 15 miles….
3. The advice in the stores is really good. And only once in 20 visits did I have to go online to buy a product (a new iMac with added memory and added disks that they could not have in the store – upgrades could only be made at the factory)
Tell your customers we have more availability online 1. You should put your stores first in terms of inventory management. 2. You show them the availability online (like: “3,400 in stock”), you don’t just say “there’s some online…” => it’s like you saying to your customers that they annoy you, and they should go away.
You’ll make their day: no. When I had to go online to get my supercharged iMac, I was annoyed. When I spend $2,000, I want the product now.
I bought the first iPad the first day of pre-order online: there I was ok to buy it online. Because it was Day One. I had fun tracking it every day all the way from China via Anchorage and Tennesse. But for all my other purchases I would have been upset if the store did not have them in store.
Some products you sell are now to me like bread or pencils: a charger, a cable, an Apple TV box, a Macbook, an iPad mini, a cover…. you go to the Apple store to get a new one when they break. You expect all that to be available at all times.
You can’t tell customers to go online to buy bread.
Look lady. For $500? I’m coming to the store! I’m trying it on. etc.. I know all your friends buy $500 watches every day. Not mine.
That’s just dumb! Who wants to spend that kind of money for something to be delivered by UPS? Sorry but if I’m paying $550 I want to enjoy the experience and someone to help me set it up. I can understand having people pre-order online for in store pick up so they distribute properly. But if it’s because you don’t have enough for purchase, or you don’t want people waiting in line then maybe you should have waited to launch until you did, and maybe you should remember why you are a 700 billion dollar company.
But if Wall Street and the news media doesn’t see any lines for AppleWatch they’re sure to say no one is buying it and the downgrades will be flying hard and fast. No queue means no sales. Of course, that’s twisted thinking, but when it comes to Apple everything ends up being twisted in a negative direction.
After some consideration, this choice for streaming customers from the physical store to the online experience is to diminish the negative impact of the unsavoury elements forming much of the lines in many cities: scalpers looking to make a buck flipping Apple products. This is a strategy for the launch, anyway.
Secondly, it’s a culture shift, and Ahrendts knows it’s only going to be a small percentage or buyers that actually click (no pun intended) with the notion of making purchases online. As everyone usually states, the shopping experience–including the launch day line phenomenon–is a big part of North American/Apple consumer culture.
So, the suggestion reduces the “problem” of launch day lines (which observers usually disparage, by and large), and the decision broadens awareness of the opportunity to simply take advantage of the virtual shopping experience. Many people like the ideas of shaving time off of mundane procedures, so perhaps this move will appeal to that set.
Everyone else will simply hit the lines and the stores. Apple knows it can’t change how people shop overnight, but it can make incremental changes and see how folks respond.
As an Apple Retail Employee, I think this is one of the best ideas in the history of the subsidiary. Lines and sold out products are never fun for customers or employees. And it just makes more sense, you are literally guaranteed the product if you order online and you have a much better chance at getting it sooner.