Although the idea of opening retail stores where customers can walk through the various products on sale and try them out is not new, the news of Apple opening ‘mini-stores’, each of which is roughly half the size of Apple’s common retail outlets, is worth noting. Half the products available in these ‘mini-stores’ will be iPod-related, and the other half Mac-related. These ‘mini-stores’ do make sense:
The mini retail stores will give Apple the opportunity to locate in places that, until now, have been too small to fit a tradition retail location. Apple now has four designs for its retail locations: The two-story Flagship stores with glass staircase; stores with theaters; smaller size stores with no theatre; and the mini stores. Johnson said that the new store size will allow Apple to serve both smaller markets that currently have no Apple retail presence, as well as high-traffic areas that are somewhat close to established Apple stores.
How customers pay for their iPods and Macs is unique too in these mini retail stores:
Most uniquely, between the front and back sections of the store are two touch-screen-based kiosks, embedded in the walls, that allow customers to scan the bar codes of the products they wish to buy. Once they scan a product, an image of it will appear on the screen. Customers will then insert a credit card to pay for them, and walk out of the store, all without interacting with a clerk.
Read:
Steve Jobs unveils Apple mini stores [MacCentral via yahoo! News]
Take a Test Drive [CoolBusinessIdeas.com Blog]
Experience Samsung Here [CoolBusinessIdeas.com Newsletter]