Apple is firmly convinced that it will deliver on its promise to expand your presence in China opening between 15 and 40 new stores within two years. The SVP of the Retail division, Angela Ahrendts, confirmed to a Chinese publication that Apple is now ready to open five new stores in the Asian country in a period of no more than five weeks.
These new stores would open just in time for the Spring Festival in China, that is to say, a time when the Chinese make more purchases and that commemorates the Chinese New Year, specifically on February 19.
The first of these stores it already opened last week in the neighborhood of Zhengzhou, a provincial capital. The second will be the upcoming Apple Westlake store in Hangzhou which will open on Saturday 24th January. If we look at potential customers by number of inhabitants, we see that in Zhengzhou and Hangzhou there is a population of 9 million and 2,4 million people, respectively, so seeing the increase in consumption in China and its growth can be a good sales strategy for Apple.
The other three stores still do not know where they will be located since more details have not been disclosed but we assume that they will be also located in large population centers. Currently China is Apple's second largest market and this has had an impact on the staff employed in stores and related to the brand has grown by 75 percent since 2012 with more than 3700 new employees.
For now, Apple's priority market remains the United States, but the pace at which the Asian giant is growing is unstoppable. Angela Ahrendts herself affirmed that Apple's online store in China is also the one that has grown the most since its opening and it is already predicted that it is not possible for a long time to snatches the title of the most profitable market compared to the American.
