"Everything is well thought out": how the Apple store has become a model for retailers

From a distance, McDonald's flagship location in Chicago could be mistaken for an Apple store. Its streamlined and glbad-paneled design, as well as its minimalist, airy appearance combined with modern furniture, offers some clues as to what could have inspired the design. The company calls this a "Future Experience" store, a format that inspired 4,500 store renovations last year and plans to develop the concept.

Other retailers are inspired by Apple's store model. Apple has created a business model that other stores can borrow: minimalist stores with personalized service and experiences, including events and courses. It has become the default setting for store design transformation. In November 2010, Tesla hired Apple's former vice president of real estate, George Blankenship, who worked at Microsoft for a year before (he left Tesla in 2013).

"When the Tesla showroom opened for the first time, I interviewed the Tesla store manager, a former Apple retailer," said Carmine Gallo, an author who has been studying Apple's retail model for more than ten years. years. "I said," It reminds me of an Apple Store. He leaned over and said: "It's an Apple Store – we only sell cars. "

It's not just the brands of Silicon Valley borrowing Apple. The list of retailers that are adding elements of Apple's model continues to grow and now includes brands such as Samsung, AT & T and Verizon, as well as big box retailers like Kohl's and Walmart, who have deployed Assisted order by an Apple-type badociate at the holiday season last year. Glossier, the first digital beauty brand, which has stores in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, models its stores as showrooms of experiential products, with products neatly arranged in open spaces designed for discovery, with special attention for lighting and presentation.

"We think a lot about Apple, our design and our experience," said founder and CEO Emily Weiss in a recent interview.

Apple's 506 stores have been hailed as an example of retail success, $ 5,546 per square foot, according to a CoStar study of 2017. For retailers pressed by Amazon, the growth of online commerce and obsolete stores facing declining traffic, the appropriation of elements of Apple's model is a way to give back living at physical stores. A neat and carefully presented product selection, a help desk that looks like a hotel concierge, a space for events and clbades, and a cashless checkout system are elements that retailers try to copy. The common denominator is that they are all looking for a retail approach that is based on a simple and trouble-free customer experience.

"Everything is well thought out," said Gallo. "What does a store that enriches lives look like? He will be clean, uncluttered and attractive. They will welcome you in a few meters or seconds after entering the store. "

Even though Angela Ahrendts' departure from Apple's retail business in February raised fears that the model may appear tired, an industry source that has worked with Apple has indicated that it's more of a sign that the Apple store model is running, a formula that can be exported. easily in other contexts.

"[Ahrendts] basically provided a framework already, "said the source." The stores are not designed to be a distributed model of revenue – they do not need stores. "There is a deeper manifestation of the educational mission [now]. It's not just a place to tell you how to repair or use your phone. "

With more and more retailers looking for inspiration for its model, Apple has begun to think about the next step to improve its stores. She launched a "new generation" store model in 2016, based on her initial proposal and is updating several store locations. The renovated stores feature interactive windows featuring the products, a Genius Expanded Bar ("The Genius Grove") with trees, an event space located near a video wall, and a Public area with free wifi access and meeting rooms for training sessions.

But despite efforts to incorporate elements of the Apple model in a traditional retail context, other industry observers say traditional retailers have failed to do so beyond some aesthetic elements, and that Apple Store retail items do not necessarily apply to all traditional solutions. retail situations.

"Many people think that success is all about the look," said Sergio Mannino, retail store designer, owner of a New York-based creative design firm. "It's a success for Apple but it can not be translated because this store is the perfect representation of what the brand represents."

What is missing from many retailers, he said, is capturing the intangible elements of the experience that lie behind the aesthetic. Similar to what many online retailers are doing today, Apple has been one of the first brands to develop this store that does not necessarily need to sell.

"That's what people do not copy, or if they do, the percentage of [retailers] who understands that, "said Mannino. "A store today is a place where you activate your brand, where you show what the brand stands for."