Mumbai: Apple’s retail shops in India, which begin operations with an outlet in Mumbai from Tuesday, will present in-house machine servicing. Beforehand, Apple’s service facilities had been operated individually from its shops by third events within the nation.
The in-store servicing services, referred to as ‘Genius Bay’, will characteristic skilled professionals providing troubleshooting recommendation to prospects. Appointments for service could be booked by Apple’s official India web site.
The corporate introduced the transfer at a pre-launch media occasion for the Mumbai outlet, situated within the Bandra-Kurla Complicated enterprise district, marking Apple’s first industrial operation in India. Further shops are slated to open in Delhi on April 20 and in Bengaluru quickly after, in line with a Enterprise Normal report.
Whereas business consultants welcome the change, they notice that it’s not a big departure from Apple’s earlier operations in India. Tarun Pathak, analysis director at Counterpoint India, mentioned the service heart mannequin will stay the identical as earlier than the shop’s opening. Machine repairs and servicing will nonetheless be dealt with by third-party distributors, whereas Apple will provide a trade-in program within the retailer itself.
Pathak added that Apple’s present third-party retail community in India won’t be considerably disrupted by its personal shops. The primary distinction, he mentioned, can be an improved buyer expertise at Apple-owned areas. These shops are additionally anticipated to supply a wider vary of units, colour choices, and variants beneath one roof.
Regardless of the opening of its personal stores, Apple’s market share just isn’t anticipated to be affected, however its model positioning could also be impacted. Navkendar Singh, affiliate vice-president at IDC India, steered that the corporate’s personal stores could “finally cannibalize” some large-format retail gross sales, although machine availability will doubtless be higher at its personal shops in comparison with third-party shops.
Apple’s personal shops are additionally more likely to characteristic a bigger assortment of units from its portfolio, when it comes to the general color choices and the selection of variants obtainable beneath one roof.
On April 5, Mint reported that whereas the opening of its personal stores could not influence its market share, Apple’s opening of its retailer could influence its general model positioning within the nation. Navkendar Singh, affiliate vice-president at market researcher IDC India, advised Mint that the corporate’s personal stores could “finally cannibalize” a few of its large-format retail gross sales within the nation, however projected “machine 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 report excessive. In accordance with knowledge shared with Mint by IDC India, Apple is more likely to have shipped an estimated 6.5 million iPhones final 12 months, a report for the corporate, and up by 35% yearly.
In accordance with Counterpoint knowledge printed on January 27, Apple additionally had a report December quarter — rating sixth in machine cargo rankings and accounting for 8% of all smartphones shipped to India through the interval. The corporate’s shipments in India grew, albeit from a a lot decrease base than the highest 5 smartphone manufacturers, at the same time as general smartphone shipments within the nation fell by 27% yearly through the December quarter.