Ive just read that Apple has hired Dixons UK CEO, John Browett, to replace Ron Johnson. For years, even before I immigrated to the States in 1997, Dixons has been awful retail outfit, where the not a single employee understood the floppy drives and reel-to-reel tape decks that they sold. I exaggerate, but only a little.
It seems like a great time to write up 2 recent experiences in the Apple Stores here in Denver which were not up to par.
In the first one, at Park Meadows, I was looking for a Thunderbolt cable. I was all ready to use the self checkout on my iPhone. It would be my first time. The place was mobbed, as always. Of course, I didn't care, because I was gonna self checkout. I looked all over for the Thunderbolt cable, but couldn't find it. Great. Flagging down help in an Apple Store here has become the retail equivalent of waiting for a kidney transplant. Fortunately, it only took a few minutes. I told the employee what I needed. "Those are in the back," he informs me. When he goes to the back, a lady customer says, with an enormous sigh, "Oh, we've been waiting for an hour." When the blue-shirted one brings me the Thunderbolt cable, he wants to check me out, but I stop him. I'll checkout myself while he deals with the exacerbated lady.
I was left wondering what the point of the self checkout is, if there are products which only are stocked "in the back". By all means, keep the expensive computers in the back, but the little cables? Also, I did feel lucky at getting a store employee's help that soon. I've had much worse luck.
The second experience, at Aspen Grove, was not mine, but my mother's. But I have firsthand knowledge as I was called on the phone to help sort it out. My mother is a normal person, in computer terms. I would think that be the Apple Stores' core clientele.
Here's the conversation as it was relayed to me:
Apple Store greeter: "Welcome to Apple Store. How can we help you?"
My Mum: "I need a dongle for my MacBook Pro." (A term she used and had been understood on a different visit to Cherry Creek.)
ASG: "Ok, what kind of dongle?"
Mum: "I don't know. It's for my MacBook Pro."
ASG: "Well, until you know what you need, we can't help you."
Eh, hello. Some help please?
Show her the MiniDisplayPort dongles for the MacBook Pros! How about an inquiring question? "What are you connecting your MacBook Pro to? A TV? A Projector?"
At this point she calls me, opens with "I'm at Aspen Grove and I may never come here again", then relays the story and I text her "MiniDisplayPort to VGA". While I'm on the line, I hear her flag down an employee, speak right words and the employee says "Oh, those are in the back."
I've been back to an Apple Store since. And I've been looking for clues. Do they only keep the smaller items or the less costly items out on the shelves? Well no, because they have an enormous and expensive
digital scale out. So, a mystery it remains to me. But I don't like where this is going. The Apple Store experience used to be incredible, but recently it's started to slip. Getting help and getting checked out have become a pain. It's so bad that a friend recently quipped, "I'll go there rather than the Apple Store" when he heard about
Target's plans. And with the hiring of the Dixons CEO, I wonder if Apple has lost the plot on retail.
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