It’s no secret that Apple has been planning for quite some time to set up retail stores in India. The company now typically releases its products, particularly the iPhones, in India within a month or two of the United States release.
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Fans of Apple Inc.’s products in India may soon get a taste of what it’s like to walk into a company store, albeit a small one, quite unlike the reseller stores that sell the company’s products in the world’s third-largest smartphone market.
Apple has entered a partnership with electronics chain Croma and the Tata-owned store will be now flashing Apple devices. With this, a new chapter of technological expansion in the country has begun. These stores will be opened by Diwali this year. After all, its Apple Store boasts the highest revenue per square foot of any brick-and-mortar operation.
“We are proud to partner Apple to launch the Apple Store in India and extremely bullish about it”, said Avijit Mitra, chief executive officer of Infiniti Retail, which controls Croma.
Before now, Apple sold its products in India exclusively through premium resellers operating on a franchise model.
Apple hasn’t been able to own a store in India because of laws in relation to local sourcing for a single brand FDI. Five of the Croma locations introducing Apple support will be in Malad, Juhu, Oberoi Mall, Phoenix Mall and Ghatkopar, all located in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Croma has 97 stores across the country with a customer base of 3.8 million.
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The store furniture, design, lighting and fixtures will the same as that used in Apple stores worldwide and the sales staff will also be trained by Apple. Apple already has tie-ups with multiple retailers in the country, although the space available is rather limited.
