In a bid to expand its presence in the world’s fastest growing consumer electronics market, Apple has opened up new 100 small stores under the franchise mode in India. These stores are currently in the pilot phase and are established under a fresh initiative eyeing a six-fold expansion of such outlets in the country by the next year. This move from Apple is aimed at taking on established players such as Samsung and other Chinese competitors.
These stores, once operational will be known as ‘Apple Authorised Resellers’ and are completely different than the company-owned outlets in Cupertino and California, reports Economic Times. Each store measures 450 -500 square feet in area and will target high-end consumers in posh regions of the country.
Keeping these objectives in mind, the stores have been set up in opulent localities of major metro cities. These include Vasant Vihar, Malviya Nagar, South Extension and Gurgaon’s Galleria Market in the NCR region. Apart from them, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Chandigarh are among the other cities which welcomed the initiative.
The senior officials known to the development of the project further specified that the company plans forward its expansion spree in high rental areas, high street locations in large cities, neighborhood localities and tier II and III markets as well. However, the stores are not company-owned outlets and will be inaugurated, post the conclusion of the pilot phase. The retail stores will be handled and managed by Apple authorised third-party vendors interested in the project under the franchise model.
Apart from the company’s progress in India, Apple is opening three brand new flagship stores in Downtown Miami, in Cologne and the third store in Nanjing. Lately, the iPhone maker has been remodelling quite a lot of their retail stores and announced the opening of its 35th remodelled store, the beautiful Apple St. Johns Town Center in Florida, last week.
