Apple is rethinking its retail philosophy, with a focus on revenue and profit, instead of customer satisfaction, according to a report.
Apple may have recently gave Apple Store staff a pay rise, but the company has been considering ways to make the Apple Stores more profitable for some time, according to IFOAppleStore.
IFOAppleStore claims that Apple has been planning changes to its retail offering for some time. The site claims that Apple CEO Tim Cook is an “operations guy” with a focus is revenues and profits. During late Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ medical leave Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer “began to confront [then retail chief Ron] Johnson on his customer-centric retail philosophy – both felt the stores didn’t generate enough revenues to justify operating expenses,” according to the report.
Their first big change, after the death of Jobs, was the hiring of John Browett to replace Johnson.
Reports of Apple laying off numerous recently hired retail staff in the last few weeks surfaced recently, with many of the claims coming from the UK. However, the company later claimed that reports that it was cutting back staff were based on a mistake. Browett said that Apple had been trying out a new staffing formula for its retail stores, leading some employees to see their hourly shifts cut and retail locations to be understaffed. He said that the company had now reverted to its older system, hoping to rectify the problem.
Apple has seen 300 million visitors to its 375 worldwide retail stores since October 2011, the beginning of its fiscal year 2012. The company also gets 50,000 Genius Bar visits every day.
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Related:
Apple on a spree of laying off recently hired retail staff?
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mrmac007 said on Wed, 29 Aug 2012
Its been a nightmare the last few weeks. Under staffed for the already over demading customers, personal set up thats not very personal, over time cut for staff that are the busiest in the retail sector, and only earn £17k per year with no bonuses or real promotional prospects. All this from a compony that has £90 Billion cash in the bank and and Tim Cook says it has more money than it needs and recently was talking about Apples Values. Aren't we talking about the face of Apple, and what makes Apple different and a success that Microsoft and Samsung are now copying these stores. Apple Stores are about building communities and education this costs money but it's what got Apple there £90 Billion.
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