Apple Flagship Stores
«The Lights will always be on»
Per Mitte Juni 2009 gibt es weltweit bereits 257 Apple Stores – 210 in den USA, 20 in UK, 9 in Canada, 7 Japan, 5 in Australien, 3 in der Schweiz und je 1 in Italien, Deutschland und China. » Vollständige Liste aller Applestores.
Das von Eight Inc., einem Architektur – und Designbüro in San Francisco, entwickelte Ladenkonzept gibt es in zwei Varianten: sog. «In-Mall»-Stores und die «Flagship»-Stores , stand-alone Geschäfte in hochprofilierten Umgebungen (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Osaka, London, Sydney, Montreal, Boston, Bejing).
Die Flagship Stores sind exzellente Beispiele für die Verräumlichung von Marken, in denen städtische Identitäten, Markenwerte und neue Service Designs zu einer multisensualen Erfahrung verschmelzen.
Das Design-Konzept
«The stores carry Apple computers, software, iPod music players, iPhone cell phones, third-party accessories, and other consumer electronics such as the Apple TV. Many stores feature a theatre for presentations and workshops, the Studio for training with Apple products, and all stores offer a Genius Bar for technical support and repairs, as well as free workshops available to the public.
Originally, Apple Stores contained a dedicated point of sale station, however in 2006, Apple began introducing a new store layout and design with metallic walls and backlit signage. The new store design replaced the dedicated point of sale station with the handheld EasyPay system. However, a dedicated point of sale station still exists in most of these stores to facilitate transactions not paid for by credit card.»
Das Service Design
«In order to effectively assist customer’s needs, every Apple Store has a variety of staff trained for specific tasks.
- Concierge – Performs assorted customer service tasks, such as: hosting the entrance to the store, greeting customers, maintaining and running the Genius and iPod Bar and answering the store’s phones.
- Specialist – Answers questions about Apple products and third party accessories. Specialists conduct product sales as well as explain the store’s promotions and services, such as AppleCare, MobileMe and One to One. Specialists carry a hand-held checkout device called an EasyPay, which is used to process customer payments.
- Genius – Diagnoses issues with Apple products, as well as performing repairs or providing replacement services. Customers make an appointment to see a Genius at the Genius Bar if they’re having problems with a Mac, iPod, iPhone or Apple accessory.
- Creative – Provides training sessions on a variety of topics for One to One customers. Creatives teach customers about their Mac as well as various Apple software, such as iLife and iWork. Many Creatives are also certified to teach about Apple’s pro applications, such as Aperture and Final Cut Express.
- Theatre Presenters – This role is only seen in larger stores such as the SoHo store in New York City or the Regent Street store in London. Theatre presenters carry out workshops and demonstrations about Apple hardware and software, either to large or small groups of people.»
«Genius Bar» und «iPod Bar»
«All Apple Stores feature a Genius Bar, where customers can receive technical advice or set up service and repair for their products. The Genius Bar provides software support for Mac OS X and hardware service on products that are not classified vintage or obsolete.
To address increasing numbers of iPod customers at the Genius Bar, some new stores also feature an iPod Bar. First seen at the Ginza store in Tokyo, then at the New York locations, the iPod Bar has become a common feature at newly built stores.
Most new stores feature a station called The Studio, a Genius Bar-like setting where customers can meet with a «Creative» and receive help with projects ranging from organizing a photo album to music composition to film editing. Some of the older stores are being considered to carry a Studio in a future remodel, in some cases replacing the older theaters.»
Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Store
[flickr_set id=»72157640294612534″]