RETAIL is supposed to be hard. Apple has made it seem ridiculously easy. And yet it must be harder than it appears, or why hasn’t the Windows side of the personal computer business figured it out?
Of the many predictions in the world of technology that have turned out to be spectacularly wrong, a prominent place should be made for what the pundits said in 2001 when Apple opened its first retail store in Tysons Corner, Va. “It’s completely flawed,” one analyst said, and that was the conventional wisdom. Commercial rent and furnishings would be expensive, inventory tricky and margins slim. Experienced computer resellers were struggling, and no computer manufacturer had ever found success operating its own branded stores. Analysts predicted at the time that Apple would shut down the stores and write off the huge losses in two years.
That assuredly would have been the Apple store’s fate had Steve Jobs permitted aesthetic and design considerations to trump all else. But while guiding the planning for the stores in 2000 and 2001, Mr. Jobs took on a more ambitious challenge than building freestanding museums of design that would show the Apple flag and do little else. He set out to create the conditions most likely to convert museum visitors into actual customers, and then to make those customers feel that they were being pampered long after the sale was consummated.
At the time, retail stores seemed passé. Gateway Country Stores were trying to make a go of a combination of old and new, inviting customers to come in, touch, order — and then go home and wait patiently, because the stores did not carry any inventory. Dell’s build-on-demand model dispensed with stores altogether and seemed to embody the future.
Mr. Jobs understood, however, that his stores would sell not merely products but also gratification. He told the trade magazine Chain Store Age Executive in 2001: “When I bring something home to the kids, I want to get the smile. I don’t want the U.P.S. guy to get the smile.”
The stores were born fully formed and have not required any fundamental changes. The best innovation was present on Day One: the “Genius Bar,” with a staff of diagnostic wizards whose expertise is available in one-on-one consultations — free. Pure genius. More than half of the retail store’s staff is assigned to post-sales service.
Customer response is told in the numbers. Last month, Apple released results for the quarter ended March 31. More than 21.5 million people visited its stores, which now number more than 180. Store sales were $855 million, up 34 percent from the quarter a year earlier, and they contributed more than $200 million in profits.
more@nytimes.com
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Основната идея, е че собствените вериги от магазини на производители, особено за консуматорска електроника, трябва да създават и провокират комуникацията дори м/у самите купувачи; отзивчив персонал, с главна роля ангажиране с въпросите и любопитството на клиентите в неформални атмосфера; възможност да си поиграе? свободно и неограничено с цялата изложена електроника.
В България, пример в това отно?ение могат да вземат вериги, като Техномаркет, Технополис и пр., където макар да продават всякаква електроника, могат да работят за изграждането на много по-приветлива и отворена за комуникация атмосфера. ?мам пресни спомени, при покупка в Технополис, колко апатия ги тресе всичките им продавачи.
Няма празен Apple store, защото са проектирани да създават комуникация! Когато съм в САЩ с удоволствие посещавам магазините им, защото е пълно с динамика, неформалната атмосфера с бара и редовножо прожектиране на Tips&Tricks свързани с предлаганите им продукти, възможността да се докосна до всичко и да го “човъркам” необезпокояван, и често, за да релаксирам на футуристично проектираните им цветни, огромни седящи топки, които внасят много ведрина в иначе осветените, като болница магазини 
