Tim Cook sustine ca magazinele Apple sunt spatii pline de energie si ocupa un rol important in comunitatile locale

  In afara informatiilor despre achizitionare altor companii, iPhone-urile ieftine si ecranele OLED, Tim Cook a vorbit la conferinta Goldman Sachs si despre magazinele Apple. El sustine ca magazinele companiei sunt locuri pline de energie, locuri in care oamenii vin pentru a se distra, pentru a se simti bine, pentru a avea o experienta deosebita in timp ce testeaza un produs sau achizitioneaza altul. El sustine ca a merge la un Apple Store este ca si cum ai lua Prozac, un antidepresiv prescris des in SUA, magazinele companiei fiind locul in care CEO-ul merge pentru a isi incarca energia in momentele in care are nevoie de asa ceva.

I don’t have very many bad days. But if i ever feel I’m dropping down from an excited level, I go in a store and it instantly changes. It’s like a prozac. It’s a feeling like no other.  There’s no better place to discover, explore and learn about our products than in retail. Our team members there are the most amazing, awesome, incredible people on earth. It’s the best retail experience. It’s a retail experience where you walk in and you instantly realize this store is not here for the purpose of selling, it’s here for the purpose of serving… There store acts as a gathering place. It’ a place that has an important role in the community. If you look at an agenda for an Apple store on any given day, you might find that there’s a youth program going on. You might find a local musician entertaining people in that store. It’s incredibly exciting what these stores do. I’m not even sure store is the right word anymore. They have taken on a role much broader than that. They are the face of Apple for almost all of our customers. People don’t think about the Cupertino headquarters, they think about the local Apple store. Last quarter, we welcomed a 120 million people in our stores. It’s so huge that some of our stores aren’t big enough. We’re closing 20 of our stores, moving them, and making them larger this year. In addition to that 20, we’re adding 30 more… disproportionately outside the U.S. First store in Turkey gets us into 13 countries. I don’t think we would have been nearly as successful with iPad if it weren’t for our stores. It gives Apple an incredible competitive advantage. Others have found out it’s not so easy to replicate. We’re going to continue to invest like crazy. The average store last year was over 50 million in revenue.