Quote:
Originally Posted by SensualPoet
Here's a stat for you: Apple stores have higher per square foot sales than Tiffany's. They have more staff per customer than any retail operation I know of ... and the stores are packed all the time with customers poking, prodding and buying. You'd think some bright bulb in the other electronic retail space might wander over to an Apple store one day and say .. "we could do that". Alas, it hasn't happened yet.
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The problem is that if an electronics store does this, they will end up with higher staff costs, and have to charge slightly more. What will happen is that lots of people will come into the store to play with gadgets, then go home and buy them cheaper online, or pop to the no-service store next door.
With Apple stores, they don't care. They are both manufacturer and retailer, so they make money whether you buy in store or elsewhere. (And as prices are essentially fixed, there is no reason not to buy in a store anyway.)
It would be worth Apple's money to continue to run a store even if the actual sales it makes did not cover its costs, a major purpose of an Apple store is to make the products available for people to play with, whether or not they decide to buy them straight away. They are advertising stations, not just retail outlets.
I imagine the same is true with Sony stores, and the other electronics manufactures with their own retail presence, but it isn't true of Best Buy, etc... who gain nothing from customers experiencing the products but not buying them.