Earlier this year, the WSJ had a good article on "Apple's Retail Secrets." It's pertinent as a "read" since the architect of the Apple retail success, Ron Johnson, has been tapped as the chief executive of J. C. Penny (he moved from Target to Apple in 2000). Unfortunately, unless you're a subscriber to the WSJ (print or on-line), you won't be able to read any more than the tease. However, you can go to Business Insider's Link to the Article On Apple's Retail Success. The fact that I have to send you there for a good article instead of sharing the WSJ version is a nuisance and highlights my fundamental disagreement with WSJ's strategy of making articles difficult to share. But that's another topic for another day.
A number of people with whom I work are involved in retail and Apple presents some interesting ideas about how to control the experience people have in their stores to insure it is a good one. I deal with enough retail stores of all pursuations to know that many really haven't figured out how to maximize each customer's visit the way Apple has.
Beyond Apple's magic formula though is some very basic ideas that we can all take away and use for our very own. First, it's important to insure that customers walk into the store and immediately feel welcomed. Second, and this is where Apple took a different approach than many retailers, it's important to help solve customers' problems, not just to make a sale (obviously that has to come later). This is a key difference from the experience I have walking into a lot of stores. The subtly of this approach is that it forms the relationship with a new customer that will last whether they buy on the first trip or later.
That's one of the major take-away's of the article. We all have to sell to make a living. But it's the relationship we foster with our prospects that makes them customers. And keeps them that way.
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