Angela Ahrendts left her CEO position at Burberry in 2014 to join Apple as Senior VP of Retail. According to the Apple Leadership page, “Angela has integrated Apple’s physical and digital retail businesses to create a seamless customer experience for over a billion visitors per year with the goal of educating, inspiring, entertaining and enriching communities. Apple employees set the standard for customer service in stores and online, delivering support from highly trained Geniuses and expert advice from Creative Pros to help customers get the most out of their Apple products.”

The people who know me well know that I am always quoting Apple, as they were not the first technology company to make personal computers, portable digital music players, online music/media stores, smartphones, touchscreens, tablets or smart watches. Sure, these products were progressive, cutting edge and some may say revolutionary, but Apple’s success comes from its unique ability to create brand heat, in other words mass consumer mania upon the rollout of these products. 

Based on my observations from the Apple Stores in London and New York, there are many cross-industry and cross-company best practices take-outs that could be applied to your company’s retail experience. For example, do you train your sales staff in how to meet and greet customers when they enter your stores? At Apple, the staff are trained to be personable (eye contact), they are excellent at matching the pace of the customer and respond immediately to expressed or perceived customer preferences. The beginning and end are the most crucial moments in the customer journey because they are what remain in the customers’ memory.

Living in Copenhagen has allowed me to appreciate space and embrace minimalism. When looking at the layout of the Apple Stores, many have commented on the so called “wasted” rack space, but these stores have been designed with customer in mind, and focus on the flow in a crowded store. Apple use technology to streamline customer experience, invoices are not printed but are sent to your e-mail address to streamline the purchasing process for the customers benefit and not for the brand. And in turn, data collection feels so natural that the customer is happy to pass on their personal information.

For a deeper dive, you should read Doug Stephens’ wonderful article “Why Retail Is Getting Experience Wrong”