How to ruin a great idea.

[Will]

This one makes me wonder - why take a great idea, something that is successful, profitable and well-liked, and then replace it with the opposite?

http://arstechnica.com/staff/2012/08/op-ed-apple-store-may-be-shifting-from-customer-experience-to-profit-machine

What's worse, though, is that workshops and training sessions for customers appear to be cut down or eliminated entirely. Spaces devoted to demonstration and training areas are reportedly being filled with shelves for additional accessories, and sales specialists are being directed to increase sales of these miscellaneous items.

Specialist performance will now be directly measured in part by how many accessories they can sell with each hardware item sold. So if you walk in to buy a MacBook Air, the new metrics would encourage sales people to push you to buy cases, hard drives, AirPort base stations, and more. Furthermore, specialists are also reportedly directed to have customers use the iPhone-based EasyPay, though sales through EasyPay don't count toward an employee's metrics—a Catch-22 if I ever heard one.

Apple managed to create highly successful, unique stores, that were quickly copied by other companies once they realised how effective they were. They've now put the guy who used to run Dixon's in charge, and seem to be going towards a profit focused short term strategy. For most of you in the US, Dixons is/was a UK chain with an appalling reputation, appalling customer service, and focused entirely on profits at the expense of the customer.

Pushy ignorant sales people trying to sell extended warranties. The new role model of Apple.

 

[cluberti]

Well, they are starting to show what changes in leadership can do. I won't knock it as a way to drive up revenue in the short term, but it remains to be seen what happens to Apple in the long term. They're one of the rare companies that can make a large mistake and get away with it either totally, or almost. Hopefully this will be rectified and salespeople will still be useful, but we'll see. Usually the two are mutually exclusive, but not always.