I visited the new Apple Store in 68th and Broadway. My information is from one of the store manager of this location, and also from Apple Media Helpline; where journalists could get information about Apple, provided by the manager of the previous location mentioned.
Apple has different strategies for their store locations. I visited the Apple store in 68th and Broadway, and one of the managers explained to me the reason of the opening of this new Apple store. Apple has 2 locations in Manhattan; in the east side they have the apple store of 59 and 5th av. Which covers all upper and mid east side residents, and all the tourists that come to New York always explore 5th av. making them one of the most visited Apple store worldwide. They also have stores downtown; The Village, Union Square and Soho. In the upper or mid west side there weren’t locations of an Apple store, and they have a big target market in this area. Apple’s concern wasn’t only on the sales of their products, but also because of their genius bar, which is like their technical support and tutoring center for Apple products. These Westside residents when they had an appointment with the genius bar was a hassle, they had to go all the way downtown or to 5th av. Because 5th av was a nearer location, Westside customers went to this location, but there was sometimes a big issue with this location, due to the following reason. Apple store in 5th av is a 24hr store, and due to the big volume of appointments, some of these customers were scheduled for 12 am all the way to 5am. But now that there is a location in 68th and Broadway, west side residents won’t have to lose time going to a further Apple store, or stay up late at night for an appointment. Even though this location is opened from 9am to 9pm every day. In suburbs area or in a lower volume city, Apple stores are usually located in Plazas or in the local mall. International Apple stores can be found in Major Countries, in their major city and main av.
Online retailing is a main point of sale for apple for various reasons. If you want a Mac or a Mac book customized with more features for extra performance, you will only be able to do it online. To promote more their online retailing, they offer some cool features, one of them is a personal message engraved on your new IPod for no extra charge. One of the most important points of sale for Apple’s online retailing is to pre-order new Apple products, without having to wait in a long line. Also if this new item goes out of stock, you could place an order, and it will be shipped to you once it is back in stock, without having to worry if the store still have it in stock by the time you get there. By online retailing, it is also a faster way to learn about Apple’s products.
MSRP: Apple did not gave me too much information about why Apple products never goes on sale or lower their price, they just told me that Apple products always has a high point of sale in all their products lately and that their products you get from Apple, you pay for the great quality of it. In terms of Apple products having a higher price than some of their competitors, I heard different responses for their different products. One of them was the Mac book, staring at $999.99, compared with the same specifications of a PC for $599 to $699. But at the long run you will pay more for a PC. In a PC, you have to buy an antivirus each year and a good antivirus range from $49.99 to $69.99. PC’s also tend to get damaged and have more issues than a Mac, and the cost for a diagnostic is staring at $70 dollars, without the cost of parts and labor. Most importantly is also proven that a Mac with a 1.6 GHz processor and 2 GB ram would run the same as a PC with 2.6 GHz processor and 4 GB ram and a PC with those specs will come out for the same price of a Mac or more, depending on the manufacturer.
According to one of the managers of the Apple store in 68th and Broadway, the atmosphere in Apple stores are setup for customers to feel that they are in a place to explore new things and make sure that their experience was fun and feel like they never want to leave. The manager also said that a lot of customers describe the store as a cyber café or a toys r us for all ages. I totally agree! Every apple product is setup in a light wooden table, large enough for the customers to play with the product, and fit a decent amount of that same product to avoid waiting. Apple stores are easy to identify, all their stores have a front glass display with a big bitten apple in the middle light wooden tables for their products, and it is a fun environment.
Customer service was great. The moment I entered the store I was greeted, and asked if I needed help. They have big staffs which are very knowledgeable and helpful. I would qualify Apple retail experience as a high customer service retailer.
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