
How Apple Store Seduces You With the Tilt of Its Laptops - tortilla
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2012/06/14/why-the-new-macbook-pro-is-tilted-70-degrees-in-an-apple-store/
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dangrossman
The Apple section of the Best Buy stores around here are set up like an Apple
Store... all the Apple products set up, turned on, connected to the internet
on wooden tables with plenty of room to play with them.

At the same time, almost all the Windows laptops are either running a demo app
showing specs and videos you can't quit to the desktop from, have been
rebooted by someone and are stuck on the welcome screen waiting for a password
you don't know, or are turned off.

I haven't been able to buy a Windows laptop in stores for a couple years. They
only stock junk with dim, low-DPI 1366x768 screens, and don't let you try them
out enough to tell if you want to work on that computer every day for the next
few years. I've ended up relying on online reviews and videos to pick models,
then using manufacturers' sites to custom build them with decent screens and
SSDs (14" 1600x900 in my HP Envy right now).

If I were forced to replace my laptop today, I'd be mighty tempted to make a
switch to a MBA or MBP, even if just to run Windows on it. I hope the retina
displays and Win8 release push the rest of the manufacturers to build some
decent alternatives next year.

~~~
tseabrooks
I used to work the PC dept at BestBuy in Highschool and I never noticed that
the apple store goes out of it's way to make sure you can play with and try
the computers but the windows machines are never (almost) in a situation you
can play with.

Why is that? My guess would be that it's related to the bloatware on the PC.
There is probably some agreements where they agree to have their logo and
application name displayed in store on the slideshow. Or something else?
Different marketing strategy by MS? Can MS really think the slideshow of
bloatware logo and specifications are going to help sell?

~~~
gamble
The answer is, in part, that Best Buy and other retail stores are addicted to
kickbacks from manufacturers. If a product in a retail store is anywhere other
than sitting on an obscure shelf, it's because the manufacturer paid the store
for more prominent placement. Special displays like the Apple mini-stores and
iPhone kiosks in Best Buys only exist because Apple kicks back a lot of money
to buy them. Retailers can't experiment with better displays without
undermining a lucrative profit center. Apple can structure its stores the way
it does because they only exist to sell their own goods.

~~~
tseabrooks
Do you know that apple kicks back? I'd think that apples own retail presence
would give them the ability to say, "You sell our products this way on this
table or you don't get to sell our products". Apple's strong retail presence
has to give them more negotiating power than most other CE companies.

~~~
MBCook
There are still plenty of places in the US without an Apple store, but there
are Best Buys everywhere.

Even if Apple didn't sell laptops, you know they would want their own little
corner for the iPad. The last time I was in my local BB, the Apple section
looked like a little Apple store (as always). The other tablets were lined up
shoulder to shoulder and locked into plastic cases bolted to the shelves. Some
were setup so you could actually pick them up. Quite a few were dead (probably
uncharged). Other than a basic grouping by screen size, it was a "Here's a
bunch of tablets, good luck" situation. It's no surprise they don't sell too
well.

I'd imagine BB loves the Apple stores. It gives them something that no one
else has... a little Apple store. Even if they have to kowtow to all of
Apple's demands, it must be a good deal. When an Apple laptop sells (lets say
at an average of $1200), how much do you think Best Buy gets of that? $50?
$100?

When a $400 or $800 PC laptop sells, how much do you think Best Buy gets? $15?
$25? Even if BB gets the same percentage for all laptops, or even a lower
percentage for Apple... I'm guessing the higher average sales prices makes up
for it.

Apple's margins are famous, and if I was Best Buy I'd want in any way I could.

It's actually a pretty good deal for Apple too. Some beautiful Apple
computers, fun to play with, and well setup. Just 10 feet away there is a sea
of identical PCs, often with cheap plastic and poor screens. There are some
good ones in there (and maybe promoted on isle caps), but still.

~~~
jpxxx
Apple's margins are famous, for sure, but Apple reseller margins are basically
nonexistent.

Service and sales have withered on the vine, support is all that's left.

All that said, Apple accessories and third party accessories? Yes ma'am!
Sickening margin.

~~~
toyg
It's also about attracting in store the sort of affluent buyer who can afford
to buy Apple, who is also likely to have more disposable income to spend on
other stuff in the same store.

------
lawnchair_larry
It amazes me how non-Apple phones are sold just about everywhere I go. I often
go to check them out, and it's a plastic shell with a sticker for a screen.
The shortsightedness of this sales approach is astounding. It's not even that
this is a particularly ingenious move by Apple, it's just common sense.

------
experiment0
Apple store employee here. This indeed does happen although after a while you
get pretty good at judging a 70 deg angle without an app.

From anecdotal experience, it really does make a massive difference in the
level of interaction customers have with the products. Even if people just
come in because they haven't been in an Apple store before, the first thing
they do is push the screen back and by that point they've already started
interacting with the computer.

~~~
lotu
Question, every Apple store I've ever seen is crazy crowded all day, do you
frequently re-adjust screens durning the day (I've never seen you do that) or
is this just a start of the day trick?

~~~
experiment0
Tend to do general tidying all throughout the day. Its normally if you walk
past and nobody is using it/requires attention then just straighten it up a
little bit. There is no set time during the day where everyone adjusts the
display though.

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robomartin
A big part of that is that Apple controls the horizontal and vertical (sorry
if you are too young to get the reference). I would imagine they have
customized store builds that they can easily restore to a normal state when
someone royally screws it up. Then there's probably a level of reasonable user
level protection setup (no admin access). I've never tried going into an Apple
store and tried to do admin type things. I'd be interesting to see how they
deal with that.

The contrast is even sharper in other countries. In some places it is a huge
cultural no-no to go into a store and start touching stuff. Just try going
into a toy store in one of these places with a US-raised kid used to ToysRUs.

~~~
theatrus2
The laptops clean themselves up after a few minutes of inactivity. You can
even play with most settings in system preferences.

~~~
pooriaazimi
Great! Having never visited an Apple Store, I had no idea. I always thought
it's a poor man's job to clean machines/iDevices every night (remotely, of
course - but still manually).

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forgottenpaswrd
Here in Spain the experience outside Apple stores is terrible.

If you go to Worten, or Carrefour and try to use an iPad you will find no
Internet(!), with password protected Wifi, it seems they are "saving" money,
or they don't want people to use the machines at all, only buy them. The
machines have no interesting apps on it.

Just the other day it looked like someone were boycotting the Apple stand on
purpose, you will see the Ipad3s with the zoom enabled and other accessibility
options enabled, and a stupid ugly customer face as background. It was hard to
use the machine at all, and it was energy depleting.

Then I went to an Apple store, wow!, what a difference just adding useful apps
and Internet. It seems only natural but it has been carefully orchestrated.

------
stephengillie
Why do most electronics retailers use empty or powered-off demonstration
devices? To reduce costs - from customer theft, employee theft, damage or
abuse by prospective customers, etc. At Best Buy, when a customer's kid spills
their soda on a laptop or phone, who pays for the hardware? Best buy, the
parent, or the manufacturer?

~~~
mgkimsal
But... how often does that happen? And would one not think that they might -
maybe, possibly, just _might_ \- sell a few more by having usable computers
people can test drive before shelling out $799? The increase in sales might -
again, crazy I know - just _might_ help absorb the cost from the occasional
spilled soda on a laptop.

~~~
brianpan
Did you not get the consultant's report on inventory shrinkage and oversight?
I'll send you another copy along with the Powerpoint presentation. Please
review it, we'll be moving forward with standardization on action points 2
through 7.

------
pooriaazimi
Of all the things I hate about (typical) Windows PCs (or Linux PCs), I have to
say the experience of opening their lid is the worst. I'm used to my MacBook
Pro, that requires minimum pressure to open the lid. On the contrary, all
other laptops I've tried require to to first hold the bottom _and then_ push
the lid backward. If you don't hold the bottom, it will go up 5 inches and
lands very hard on the ground.

I damn near wrecked my aunt's new Dell last week the instant I tried to open
its screen (to install anti-virus and remove factory junk). If I had used just
a little more pressure, her laptop would've landed 3 feet on the floor and
would certainly break. Bad fortune for a laptop that hasn't even been booted
once...

So I guess a typical Wintel user that is used to these stupid screens would be
amazed at how MacBooks are different.

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damian2000
Here in Australia we have a couple of stores (Myer/David Jones) that have an
in-store section for Apple products that are setup like Apple Stores, complete
with touchable products. Just next to that section are the windows laptops,
locked down and unfriendly. Normally the Apple section is far busier.

~~~
robryan
Yeah, places like jb and dick smith have the same setup, I guess it is a
condition from apple to be a seller of their laptops.

~~~
veb
In New Zealand, I recently went to JB. I was interested in a tablet,
specifically the iPad 3, and I asked the sales person, "What's the difference
between the Asus Transformer, and the iPad 3?", to which he replies, "Uhhh...
the Operating System?". He kept this up, trying to make me feel like a
complete idiot for asking these questions... then when I was about to purchase
something he walked off. I then wait 20 minutes, and buy the Transformer, as I
wasn't allowed to demo the iPad 3. (seriously?)

I hate those places with a passion, and as a deaf guy I constantly get people
just leaving me without any help after I mention for the third time to speak
the fuck up. I wish I had an Apple store here, maybe buying things in a store
would be more enjoyable :(

~~~
paupino_masano
I agree: I've moved to the US and the Apple stores here are AWESOME. Staff on
hand, everything laid out well - they even encourage you to try out Facetime.
Also, the free trainings they offer are actually very useful.

An Apple Store in New Zealand (and possibly other places) would do wonders for
the brand - I only switched to Mac after a visit to the US. The next-best-
thing we had in Auckland was MagnumMac - it was OK but it was no Apple Store.

~~~
MBCook
The biggest problem with Apple stores at this point is that they are always
busy. I remember when the first Apple store opened in my area a few years ago,
there were always people there but only a decent number.

Now, it doesn't seem to matter when I go to the Apple stores around me,
they're buzzing with tons of activity.

~~~
culturestate
They're absolutely jammed, but you notice that you never have a problem
finding an employee to help you? I was at the Apple Store in Hong Kong the
other day talking to one of the floor guys as he was ringing me up; he told me
they have 150 people on shift in the store at any given time. Granted, the
Hong Kong store is _massive_ , but that still seems like an extraordinary
number for a single shift.

------
zalew
"The difference between Apple and Best Buy"

why not difference between Apple and f.ex. Sony Center which are also designed
to engage the customer, let him play with the product? I'm not a fan of Sony,
but know many people who liked their stores, that's a better comparison than a
supermarket.

~~~
swdunlop
Well, it is somewhat relevant to Forbes, since Best Buy has been giving all
the indicators of following Circuit City into oblivion and Forbes has
commented about it recently. The Apple Store (and Sony Store) is a contrast in
how a well tuned, specialized store is better at selling the same product
compared to a big box. Which is interesting, considering how long the Big Box
retail scene has been considered the death of small independent shops. (Cue
Elton John singing about the Circle of Life..)

The Best Buy in my neighborhood is more convenient by about 90m than the Apple
Store. But I generally refuse to go to Best Buy for anything that I can't find
on a pegboard, like cables or a USB drive. Everything else, I get random
unavailability, clueless salespeople, and a really strange mildew smell from
the upholstery.

Smells like doom, really.

~~~
zalew
> a well tuned, specialized store is better at selling the same product
> compared to a big box.

are there some numbers to support that? I mean, f.ex. no of macbook pro and
sony bravia or xbox sold in the supermarkets vs sold in brands' stores? I
always get the feeling that such stores exist to keep appearances and attract
new customers, not to work as a main selling point. selling 20 laptops through
bestbuy is probably way cheaper and quicker than selling 20 laptops through
it's own store.

~~~
texel
This is anecdotal, and I haven't worked there for close to 5 years, but back
when I was at a mall Apple store, our store was clocking more revenue per
square foot than any other store in the (upscale) mall. If I remember
correctly, it was by a factor of 2 or more. Granted, it was only a 30 foot
store, and the items are pretty big ticket anyway, rent there is more
expensive etc etc, but all that being said, Apple stores are REALLY good at
selling Apple products.

~~~
wallflower
I once heard that the rent was $6,000 a month for a _cart_ in one of the prime
areas at our upscale mall. Usually these sell bamboo plants or cell phone
accessories.

I wonder if your store was average for the AAPL universe.

------
GuiA
On a very related note, "The Ikea Effect" : [http://hbr.org/web/2009/hbr-
list/ikea-effect-when-labor-lead...](http://hbr.org/web/2009/hbr-list/ikea-
effect-when-labor-leads-to-love)

~~~
forgottenpaswrd
Funny how they put it like adding an egg was adding human contact.

The fact is that a cake without eggs needs artificial eggs(industry products
with natural eggs are very dangerous so they have to replace it with shit).
The product tastes very different, is not as healthful (in fact is wrong for
your health).

They attribute the effect to a minor cause.

------
dzine
I love how Apple takes common sense (in retrospect) to extreme levels. Not
only do they do that well, they excel in thinking out of the box, for the
simplest of things. Color me impressed.

------
naner
To add another anecdote:

I happened to be leafing through a womens' mag while waiting for an
appointment recently and there was an article on simple ways to save on
spending.

The article said to never try on clothes when you are window shopping or "just
looking" at a store. The reasoning was similar to this article on Apple: When
you try something on and see it on yourself in the mirror, you now own that
piece of clothing in your mind. And by not purchasing it, you actually
experience a loss. As if you owned the item and now it was taken away from
you.

This emotion is ostensibly more "painful" than simply wanting an item and not
purchasing it.

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pbreit
After reading the article I still am not sure exactly why Apple sets the
screens at some specific angle at store opening. To entice people to touch
them doesn't quite sound right since the angles will all be adjusted rather
quickly. And do reps keep re-setting them throughout the day? The author
doesn't say. The author also fails to mention one major reason why shoppers
feel compelled to touch Apple products and develop a like for them while at
the Apple store: Apple makes very touchable and likable products!

~~~
Tooluka
I think that this angle is set so that person standing near the table would
look at the display at 90 degree angle, just like with general monitor setup
advice (monitor perpendicular to the line of sight, line of sight ends at the
top border of the display). Since people are standing, not sitting, then
notebook display should be a bit tilted backwards.

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dsirijus
There is an impression that Apple does this for you, for everyone, as a
completely benign and sane sales point for which they go lengths to acchieve.

It's false.

It's what YOU, the end consumer of Apple products, pay for - random people
checking out their products. It's in YOUR price tag.

I personally don't like MY money being distributed that way.

~~~
potatolicious
How ridiculous.

We can say the _exact_ same thing about test drives, trial subscriptions, free
samples at Costco, etc etc. _Any_ type of "sampling", or indeed any marketing,
can be said to be paying customers subsidizing non-paying customers.

All of the above cases are completely absurd points to make, including in
relation to Apple.

~~~
dsirijus
I'm not downplaying that practice; of course it is common.

What I do have trouble is the general sentiment that they go out of their way
to help you, and it is just embedded in the price tag. And the blame for that
is not even on Apple side - it's on you.

And, like I've stated, I just PERSONALLY don't like it, as a general practice.

------
horsehead
Is getting a customer to interact with its product really considered terribly
clever or Apple-esque? Isn't this the goal of any decent marketer? I like
looking at electronics at walmart, but it frustrates the hell out of me that I
can't USE them. I'm not going to buy something unless I can test drive it
first.

