Apple had a vacancy at the top of its retail business unit and filled it with someone who didn't come up through the ranks of Apple Inc. or work in the U.S.
Apple, Inc. announced that John Browett will join the company in April to fill the slot once held by Ron Johnson. His title will be senior vice president of the retail business.Johnson took the CEO position at JC Penney that launches its revamped retail strategy today.
Dixons PLC is a maze of retail businesses that sell traditional electronics and household appliance products. Its sales took a dip last year, according to the Wall Street Journal but held up better than throughout the bad economic conditions, mostly due to Browett's emphasis on customer service and store redesigns.
Apple's company owned stores reported that in the fourth quarter 2011 they exceeded the previous year's sales by almost 75%.
The Apple concept stores are a mecca for Apple lovers and those that want to join the family, but there are the detractors who might give Mr. Browett some ideas for changes.
Yahoo! Business reported on the major complaints about the retail stores, including what some might call a bad attitude, that were gleaned from Apple-dedicated sites as well as customer review sites.
1) Arrogance. Store employees have an air about them that while well meaning, can be interpreted as arrogant. It might just be an outgrowth of their complete knowledge of the product and the zeal with which they make their pitch.
2) Nothing but Apple. Customers looking to switch systems to Apple from PC, need a complete tutorial, but it seems that employees can automatically launch into that mode, even for existing Apple users to the point of annoyance.
3) Tech Speak: The other side of the non-essential information talk is the difficulty that non-techy folks have with the tech-speak of Apple retail associates.
Whether those issues come with the territory of being unable to please everyone will be something for the new sales chief to look at.
With the Apple retail empire doing better than even the company could have expected, any material change would likely ruffle the feathers of those that think nothing should change.
Image: Wikimedia Commons/Thomas van de Weerd
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