In the midst of the holiday season I spent an afternoon experiencing the San Francisco Apple store, where a crowd of 225+ diverse visitors were crowding the store and the back POS counter. But in the midst of the chaos, it was possible to discerne some patterns to the traffic and exactly what was going on. First of all, not all those people staring at computers were potential customers checking out the various models. In fact, my unscientific survey found about 20% were checking e-mail, browsing for directions or movies, or bogged down with celeb sites. One person had a large shopping bag on the display table filled with deli food, and dipped into it periodically to eat lunch as he surfed his gmail account. Three teens browsed a Facebook.com account, two more a teen girl celebrity site, and someone else had their tour book of Europe open to page 248 and was looking up things on a travel Web site. Lastly, one young woman had her giant Filofax out, with 10-12 Post-It notes scattered over the display table, perhaps sending holiday greetings to all her relatives. And all this in the midst of crowded aisles and genuine shoppers.
Upstairs, I watched the Genius Bar to note that waiting times were 1:05 for iPods, but 3:40 for Mac-related problems. That ProCare membership is looking better and better! Over a 40-minute period at the Genius Bar, I noted four persons receive an iPod in exchange for one under warranty that didn’t work. Two more customers with dead iPods without warranty protection decided to buy new ones. That sure seems like a high rate of exchange, but perhaps it was just a quirk of Sunday afternoon. I should note that the process was always quick and easy, with the Genius asking few questions, and seemingly bogged down more by completing paperwork that anything else.
Confirming my previous counts at other stores, there were 69 iPods on display on the ground floor at San Francisco, including some that were placed at the ends of the display tables, where merchandise isn’t normally located. iTunes Music Store gift cards were out and moving, along with interest in anything you could connect to, wrap around or otherwise ues with an iPod. The ground floor POS waiting line varied between five and 25 persons over the time I was there, so waiting times for the 6-8 cashiers was between one and 10 minutes.
