Apple Retails Stats…
Some stunning stats on Apple’s retail stores:
- Apple will open 40 new stores this year, an average of one every nine days.
- The stores conduct approximately 3,500 special events, such as classes on software, every week.
- On average, 10,876 visitors come to an Apple Store each week, up from 9,316 per week last fiscal year.
- Average revenue per store is $441,000 per week.
- Employee turnover is 20 percent a year, compared to 50 percent on average for the retail industry.
- The average Apple Stores outsells all its neighbors, stores like Ann Taylor, Pottery Barn, Sharper Image, combined.
- The average Apple Store, with its 6,000 square feet of space, generates two-thirds of the revenue of a Best Buy, which averages 38,000 square feet.
- There are over 100,000 ProCare members, each ProCare membership generating $99 per year, plus the irritation of those waiting in line at the Genius Bar without ProCare membership.
- 20,000 children
were indoctrinatedparticipated in the Summer Camp program this year.
Everytime I go into a store I’m stunned at how alive they are. For a contrast, visit a Sony store. Each Apple store is in effect one of the community epicenters. A place to learn, meet, swap ideas and get support. They really are remarkable.
An aside: expect the next version of Office for Mac mid 2007…
The Marriage Of PR & Consulting
Paul covers the acquisition of Financial Dynamics by management consulting firm FTI last week. He’s beaten me to the punch on several thoughts I had on reading this in the FT:
- ‘Technical communications’ boutiques and agencies (IR, crisis comms, change management, positioning, etc.) have a natural synergy with large consulting firms.
- The synergy isn’t just in practice area, it is also in working model.
- As the larger (McKinsey) and more niche consulting firms look for growth outside traditional services there will be more M&A in this area.
- There are a large group of agencies of all shapes and sizes that would die a certain death inside a management consulting firm. Culturally they are not a fit and the client has an expectation of them that would not be fulfilled by the working practices of say, a McKinsey.
Here is what Paul had to say in The Holmes Report:
Nevertheless, the possibility that other management consulting or professional service firms might take an interest in public relations consultancies—particularly those at the high value-added end of the business—is intriguing, and many PR agency principals believe their firms have more in common with the consulting business than they do with the advertising business, which traditionally has been the biggest buyer of public relations agencies. Charles Watson, chief executive of FD, says financial PR has more in common with consulting than with the advertising agency businesses and predicted that there could be “other similar transactions to come. There is a growing recognition on the part of the consulting business that reputation and risk management and communications are becoming more important issues for their clients at the CEO level.”
Consolidation In Analyst Land
Mike Rothman points to continuing consolidation in analyst land as Yankee starts to flex its muscles on the back of activity from Ovum. This also reflects the continued bifurcation of the analyst market – “Big Gorillas” offering packaged insight and events vs. “Nimble Nats” offering strategic insight, commentary and thinking. Given that the “Nimble Nats” are very content and market centric I also wonder if they wont be targeted by the media companies (CMP, CNET) for acquisition or at least strategic partnerships.
Webcast Plug
Steve Rubel, (MicroPersuasion, Edelman) and I are doing a web cast at the invitation of PR Week on Thursday, September 28. Details below. Nonsubscribers can register, by the way.
Everyone is talking about new media channels such as blogs and podcasts. But what does this reality mean for the future of PR and communications? PRWeek is convening a Web cast to discuss critical issues in the ever-changing new media landscape. Moderated by Keith O’Brien, PRWeek news editor and editor of prweek.com.
Not Getting Coverage? You Might Try Sueing Someone…
Adfreak covers what is one of the weirdest law suits in recent weeks?
Kitson, a Hollywood fashion boutique… claims that Us Weekly has caused the store harm by refusing to give it any publicity lately. Kitson is “favored by young celebs such as Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Denise Richards,” so it’s the sort of place the celeb-centric press tends to publicize endlessly. Indeed, Us Weekly used to do so, notes the article in the Los Angeles Times. But now, says Kitson’s owner, a falling out with the boutique has prompted the magazine to avoid any mention of it. And this systematic shunning “is costing the store $10,000 per week,” the suit alleges. If the boutique’s legal action is successful, will it establish a right for places like Kitson to get tons of ink in venues like Us Weekly? Stranger things have happened, though not many.
“Systematic shunning”? Isn’t that something PR people deal with every day?
