Apple Store: a user experience review
I recently visited the Apple Store in Menlo Park mall, Edison. Having heard a lot about the famed glass-paved stores, this was my first visit to one of these. India, one of the large markets for Apple & amongst few that is still growing, doesn’t have an Apple store yet. All sale in India is only through resellers.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the Apple store to be unlike any other end-consumer product store. Whether its the store layout, product demos, billing or delivery — the whole experience carries Apple’s unique design stamp that gives it a refreshing spin with an immersive engagement, one that ultimately works for Apple. I share my observations and in-store experience as a user.
A candy store.. for adults
Its hard to miss the Apple Store even in a relatively large mall. With the buzzing activity in the path leading up to the store and the perennial crowds, it sure stands out. Its not unlike a candy stall doling out free toffies, that kids flock to in a fair. Just that it is adults here vying to get their share of excitement, in an environment that is electrifying with high energy levels.
1. Navigating the marketplace
Once you enter the store, its a bit unsettling at first to find no clear identifiable product sections or a familiar store layout — no product banners, no earmarked service areas and no posters that scream at you. A deliberate milieu of a local market place has been designed to let one walk around, lean-in to hear conversations and learn from what others are asking questions on or getting excited about.
Products are thrown in across the store and people float around to areas that most pique their interest. This is a design that promotes accidental discovery and its an experience that grows on you. Once you get a sense of the store in the first few minutes, its not too difficult to locate products and understand how they are aggregated. Not very different from a typical Apple product’s first-time user experience.
2. Discovering the goodies
Once you get to the products of interest, one finds several devices across model variants and colour choices thrown-in in working condition. The natural instinct is to pick one and try your hands at it. Again, there are no flyers, user manuals or designated demos going on (save a few iPads here and there, with gorgeous picture catalogues).
Its interesting to see how users learn and explore new products. Given the informal setting and flowing crowd, learning is more by observing other customers using, querying and ultimately buying them. All right next to you. That actually makes for a well-planned onboarding, though designed surreptitiously.
There is innovation in the display options as well. While checking out iPhone cases, I discovered that you could tug and pull what appeared to be a wall-mounted display; this makes the display extend out like a drawer exposing the packed cases within, which one could then pick up!
3. Making the sale
Apple breaks away from conventions in how customer reps engage with people, as well. The service reps are aplenty, but they blend in with the crowd and seem to know when to interject, and when to leave people alone to explore by themselves. What surprised me most was the lack of a dedicated billing counter or the long queues (maybe, except a new launch!).
With the same service reps doubling up to do the billing using their hand-held, one gets to see deal closures happening alongside product conversations. It well could be a great motivator for prospective customers to see other people closing transactions beside them and buy stuff that they are still evaluating — sure acts as a validation and accelerates the decision-making process.
4. Staying friends, after a sale
It was interesting to learn about the workshops run in Apple stores wherein they schedule 30 or 60 minute sessions to let anyone join and learn how to better use a product. Starting with the basic aspects, they offer live workshops for some of the more advanced features, like professional video editing, advanced photography with an iPhone or professional use with business apps.
These free-workshops serve to promote engagement, and is an innovative way to get customers back to the store. It also helps that this doesn’t happen in isolated places, but right next to the product display aisles in the same ‘market place’. Signing up customers and prospects for experiential training is a sure way to get them engaged and help discover new products in the process.
Apple’s rich product portfolio notwithstanding, the store also stacks other exciting add-on devices and accessories that latch onto Apple’s own products. This includes some cool stuff in education, programming and robotics, ones that also act as crowd pullers for kids and adults alike.
In all, this was a wholesome experience, and I look forward to hanging out some more in these stores. Maybe, I will write about some of the stuff I learn in the process.
