Apple had opened its first online store in India, on 23rd September and is planning to open physical stores in the year 2021. The company for the first time offered the entire range of its products and services to the consumers of the country.
Including their own customised versions of MacBook Air, Mac Mini and other Mac computers, including AppleCare+, which can be used for extension of warranty on products and also offers customers support on phone calls and chats.
Recently, Apple has started to distribute its products to the customers from the retail stores. They believe that it would lead to faster delivery to people who live far from the distribution centres.
Apple Inc. has planned to launch a new series of products, some of them are a new iPad Air, 5G phones, Macs with Apple’s processor, Homepod with a change in the delivery options.
The services of United Parcel Service Inc. in Canada and FedEx Corp. in the US will be used to ship the products thorough ground shipping, with a target to deliver the product a day after the customer’s order. However, the service will be provided to people who live not more than 100 miles from an apple store.
This trend of shipping is not new, it has been earlier used by other manufacturers. The Cupertino, a California- based technology has delivered devices similar to Macs, iPhones, iPads and other products directly from China or from their storage houses across the region.
Keeping a stock of products would help to deliver faster with a network of about 300 stores spread across the US and Canada.
They also have tested the changed delivery style after the re-opening of locations from the pandemic. People commented that the products have reached to more people but not to all retail stores in the US and Canada.
Previously, several grocery stores have also started to deliver from the stores which were then expanded to other retailers. An important benefit of the programme is that there will be a reduction in the costs and it will increase the product margins.
Although the decision of the place from where the product has to be shipped lies with the company, not the customers. They cannot choose from where they want their products to be shipped, the store or the warehouse.
This method of delivery establishes that the stores are shut and the COVID-19 guidelines and the Apple both can operate side by side.
Although some Apple have call centres at their stores, they have also planned to transform the stores to sales call centres or support centres, in case the stores are required to be locked again due to the COVID-19.
