Apple’s reach in the consumer market is certainly great, but it turns out that they are just as influential when it comes to the retail world. This is pretty clear initially, when looking at how companies like Microsoft and Samsung blatantly rip off Apple’s retail store design.
Looking a little deeper, though, Apple also has a great amount of influence on salesmen themselves. Many companies are adopting Apple’s retail strategies due to the amazing success of the Apple Store.
Best Buy is now testing a new way of doing business, one inspired in a very obvious way by Apple. According to industry experts, Apple is now the envy of many large retailers. Apple’s retail dominance has reached as far as the automakers, inspiring GM to institute “no-haggle” pricing in order to ease the job of the salesman.
In fact, many large brands, such as Best Buy and Starbucks are now abandoning the term “salesperson” altogether, in line with Apple’s creative staff names, such as the “Genius” and “Specialist.”
While Apple certainly pioneered some amazing sales practices, too much of a good thing is never healthy, and if everyone adopts Apple’s strategies, they run the risk of becoming ineffective, bringing everyone back to square one.
Source: SmartMoney
