Blog

How Apple can beat the fake Apple Stores

July 21, 2011 by Mike Wittenstein — Customer Experience and Service Designer, Storyminers

In today's New York Times, Nick Bilton writes about fake Apple stores selling real Apple products popping up. He notes that the "store design and employees are clearly out of character." Of course! it's impossible to copy experiences because the copycats can't afford the infrastructure, training, and support systems that it takes to keep employees up-to-date, on-brand, and focused. In my opinion, there's no way that the knock-off stores can match Apple's service, support (which doesn't come cheaply), or its customer experience.

Of course, there are serious issues for Apple to face in China and the rest of the Far East as more Apple-esque stores appear. To combat the infant-but-quickly-growing trend, I encourage the company to emphasize and further differentiate it's service experience as a way to make a real Apple store easier to distinguish from a fake one. If they do their job well, it will be easier to discern the real Apple experience from a fake one than it might be to tell a real product from a fake one.

About Mike Wittenstein

---

None

Connect with Mike: