MUMBAI : Apple’s personal retail shops in India, which begin operations with an outlet in Mumbai from tomorrow, may also provide servicing of its units throughout the identical retailer itself. To date, Apple’s service facilities operated out of separate bodily areas from its shops, which had been owned and operated by means of third events within the nation.
The servicing services might be operated within the retailer underneath a piece referred to as ‘Genius Bay’, which can function educated professionals who will provide troubleshooting recommendation to prospects. Reserving a servicing slot on the firm’s personal retailer will retain the identical process, the place customers can reserve a time slot from Apple’s official India web site, the corporate mentioned.
Apple confirmed the transfer at a pre-launch media occasion in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Advanced enterprise district outlet, which grew to become the primary to start out industrial operations in India. The corporate is about to open its Delhi outlet on April 20, whereas a 3rd outlet in Bengaluru can be in ultimate preparation levels, in response to a report final month by Enterprise Commonplace.
Trade specialists mentioned that whereas the transfer is a welcome one, it won’t be a departure from how the corporate has operated in India to this point. Tarun Pathak, analysis director at market researcher Counterpoint India, mentioned that the service heart providing will work in the identical mannequin as previous to its personal retailer’s opening.
“Apple, to make sure, won’t be offering system restore and servicing by itself. It can provide a trade-in program too on the retailer itself, however the logistical retail operations of this system might be supplied by a third-party vendor. For servicing and restore of units, the identical third-party mannequin will comply with. Having all of it accessible underneath one roof is extra of an experiential play from Apple, by means of which it’s going to attempt to provide customers each potential factor associated to the model underneath one umbrella,” Pathak mentioned.
He additional added that Apple’s present third-party retail community within the nation won’t be majorly disrupted because of the opening of its personal retailer. “Apple already has a sturdy community of premium third-party resellers of its merchandise, in addition to service facilities. There might be an incremental distinction at its personal shops, within the type of buyer expertise, however that’s the solely distinction that we count on — nothing operationally,” he mentioned.
Apple’s personal shops are additionally prone to function a bigger assortment of units from its portfolio, by way of the general color choices and the selection of variants accessible underneath one roof.
On April 5, Mint reported that whereas the opening of its personal shops could not influence its market share, Apple’s opening of its retailer could influence its total model positioning within the nation. Navkendar Singh, affiliate vice-president at market researcher IDC India, advised Mint that the corporate’s personal shops could “ultimately cannibalize” a few of its large-format retail gross sales within the nation, however projected “system and variant availability” to be higher at its personal shops, than at third-party-run ones.
Apple’s shops had been rumored to open for a very long time, and are available at a time when the corporate’s market share and shipments in India are at a file excessive. Based on information shared with Mint by IDC India, Apple is prone to have shipped an estimated 6.5 million iPhones final 12 months — a file for the corporate, and up by 35% yearly.
Based on Counterpoint information printed on January 27, Apple additionally had a file December quarter — rating sixth in system cargo rankings and accounting for 8% of all smartphones shipped to India in the course of the interval. The corporate’s shipments in India grew, albeit from a a lot decrease base than the highest 5 smartphone manufacturers, whilst total smartphone shipments within the nation fell by 27% yearly in the course of the December quarter.
Up to date: 17 Apr 2023, 07:20 PM IST