Apple Boss Tries To Gut Retail Operation – The Loop

The former Dixons man, Paul Browett has barely been in charge of Apple’s retail stores for a few months and he’s already made an embarrassing balls-up.

Unaccustomed to good customer service, Browett decided that Apple’s retail stores were too bloated and that he should have a bit of a clearout. In fairness, he was schooled in an organisation that lives on wafer-thin margins (selling Windows PCs, badly) and typically has around three staff on a floor three times the size of a typical Apple store. On the rare occasions where a PC World or Currys is busy, you can expect to wait a while before someone will acknowledge your existence.

This has the stench of a man looking to make a name for himself, not someone that’s doing what’s best for Apple or more importantly, its customers. To take one of the most heralded retail experiences in the world and gut it, stripping it of everything that makes an Apple store what it is, just doesn’t make sense. – The Loop

Thankfully, he changed his mind after realising his mistake.

The DSG group here in the UK is a mess. They’ve been in decline for quite some time; standards have slipped and they’ve hung on, mainly thanks to a lack of alternatives. When Browett was hired by Apple, I doubt anyone who has ever been to a DSG store saw this ending well.

I wonder how much longer Browett will keep his job. This is an embarassing u-turn for Apple and it didn’t need to happen. They’re earning enough money to support their current staffing levels, so why change?