Although before when accessing the Apple website we had to look for the »Store» section at the top of the now classic bar of this website, where Apple products were shown in addition to a Support section, now the Online Store is directly integrated buttons.
Now if we click on the Mac section for example, before only the information regarding the product was shown but now we can also access to buy it directly, So this "merger" seems to me to be something much more logical since if a potential user wants to find out about the product before buying it like this, they will not have to be browsing in different sections, one for information and another for purchase, but directly the option will be integrated.
In the words of a spokesperson for Apple itself,
We have redesigned Apple.com knowing that our customers want to explore, research and access the store from one place […] The new Apple.com takes the best of our existing website and our Online Store to offer customers the easiest way to learn and buy without having to navigate between two different websites. We've also improved several of the site's features to make shopping even easier than ever for our customers.
I personally think that removal of the domain store.apple.com It has been a success since it did not make sense to separate two intrinsically linked actions such as previous information to later buy. A clear optimization on the web that will make navigation much easier, although of course this change does not mean anything radical at all, but rather a subtle movement that only makes Apple's already magnificent website even better.
