Angela Ahrendts is in Europe visiting, where he has granted a interview with the Cannes Lions medium, during the International Festival on Creative Spaces. At the meeting, Apple's Senior Vice President of Retail spoke on various topics, including, the future of retail stores.
From Ahrendts point of view, physical stores have to continue, but they must undergo a transformation to become places of meeting, exhibitions and debate. Also participating were Apple's Vice President of Marketing Communications, Tor Myhren. Both agree that the end is human business and humanize technology.
I love the creative arts… I suggest the catchphrase: maybe we're in the human business. Perhaps the largest tech company has 65,000 "kids," and perhaps our work involves humanizing technology.
In the words of Ahrendts, although many customers will choose to buy online, some of them will prefer to go to a physical establishment to finish being convinced by the chosen product. Apple follows this model when it allows you to find out online and make the appropriate purchases, but then offers you to pick it up in a physical store.
You have your instincts and you use a lot of smart employees in the company and they say that retail is not dying. They say that digital will grow three times faster than physical, but in the next five years ... 75 percent of people will buy online, they will buy to learn about what they want to buy, but 75 percent of business will continue to be done in physical stores.
Therefore, in the words of Ahrendts, physical stores have to evolve. They have to be used for something more than just selling, because otherwise they will disappear. By last, Ahrendts spoke of the employees at Apple's physical stores.
They are not contracted to sell, there are no commissions or fees. What we've tried to do is keep bringing them together around the big vision and the impact we want to achieve.
At least for now Ahrendts style is gaining acceptance and everything seems to indicate that it is in the correct line.