What’s next for Apple’s Retail Store empire?

“Apple stores are more than just places to shop,” Annie Gaus reports for TheStreet. That was highlighted by the recent news that Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s retail guru since May 2014, is leaving the company in April for ‘new personal and professional pursuits,’ according to a press release this week.”
“Under Ahrendts’ watch… Apple has established itself at the forefront of broader trends in retail, according to eMarketer analyst Andrew Lipsman,” Gaus reports. “‘They revolutionized and popularized experiential retail — the transformation that we’re in from inventory-led retail to experience-led retail,’ Lipsman explained. ‘The leading retailers today understand they need to lead with experience, and that’s what it’s going to take to get consumers back to the store, particularly the millennial set that’s used to buying things online.'”
“Taking over for Ahrendts will be Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s current Vice President of People and a respected company veteran of three decades. Placing a respected vet at the helm of its powerful retail division is encouraging, wrote Wedbush’s Dan Ives in a note this week.,” Gaus reports. “‘A major focus of Apple with O’Brien now running the show will be catalyzing demand in China with the store experience a major factor in this region as well as other regions with consumers getting the ‘Apple experience’ when they look to test drive new technology in the store, a key ingredient in Cupertino’s recipe for success,’ Ives wrote.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: More stores, please, to spread out the demand and make the experience less of a loud*, crowded frenzy and more relaxed.
*Much more attention to acoustical damping — please! — too many Apple Retail Stores are far too acoustically bright. Communication in Apple Stores is often a painful chore due to crowd noise bouncing off too many hard surfaces. These acoustically annoying experience could and should be mitigated.