Retailers Shut Facebook Storefonts Amid Apathy

Re:Retailers Shut Facebook Storefonts Amid Apathy by jasonlotito on Saturday February 18, 2012 @09:56PM (#3608501)

On the flip side, my last experience with the Apple Store and it's sales staff left me hating the entire experience. Suffice it to say, you can't walk and buy something knowing what you want. You are forced to wait for some sales person. More than a half hour into the experience, we simply left. My brother-in-law was sitting there, ready to buy. He knew exactly what he wanted. We left, and he never made the purchase.

So, when I read things like this, all I see is a sales person who just wasted another customers time. Sure, it's policies, and you are spending that time with a potential customer, and treating them well. The point, however, is I've had better experiences buying Apple products from places like FutureShop, where I can walk in, explain what I want, pay, and walk out in less than 5 minutes.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure for the majority of people this is... fine (I guess). I mean, making an appointment to buy something is natural.

But yeah, I avoid the Apple store now. Between that, and numerous other things, it's at best a frustrating experience.

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Re:Retailers Shut Facebook Storefonts Amid Apathy by r00fus on Saturday February 18, 2012 @10:21PM (#3608547)

I had exactly the opposite experience last 2 times I was there - in one case a couple of years ago, I got an AppleTV... I straight-up said I was not interested in anything else, just that, I got a sales rep in about 2 minutes, then joked with him for another minute about how awesome Netflix on the aTV was. Paid, then I walked out without a bag or paper receipt.

More recently, with Apple's improved "self-checkout", I simply scanned the item on my iPhone app and pay with my AppleID. Again, no receipt, no bag.

I challenge you to find a more geek-friendly checkout mechanism. YMMV of course, but I've gotten really good mileage at my local Apple store.

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Re:Retailers Shut Facebook Storefonts Amid Apathy by jasonlotito on Sunday February 19, 2012 @07:32AM (#3609215)

The experience is different for things that are stocked on the shelf. Having to wait for a sales rep to be finished (regardless of other employees standing around) to purchase a computer is... well, described in my parent post.

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Re:Retailers Shut Facebook Storefonts Amid Apathy by suresk on Sunday February 19, 2012 @02:00AM (#3608838)

For purchases like a new MacBook or iMac, I generally prefer to purchase them in-store, for a few reasons:

1) Save money on shipping 2) Get the item quicker 3) If there isn't someone in your household who is home during the day, having big/expensive things delivered to you is usually a huge pain in the ass.

Unfortunately, the Apple Stores (at least the ones I've been in) aren't really optimized for someone who knows exactly what they want and wants to get in and out as quickly as possible. Every time I've been in there to buy a computer, the experience has been really frustrating, as I have to wait forever for someone to help me, then they have to spend time tracking down someone who can go get the actual computer.

Obviously the model they use is working out incredibly well for them, I just wish they'd make it a little easier to actually buy stuff.

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Re:Retailers Shut Facebook Storefonts Amid Apathy by 18pfsmt on Saturday February 18, 2012 @10:28PM (#3608560)

Not to take this thread further off-topic, but I'm curious why your brother-in-law and yourself don't just order from your computer instead of making a trip to the store?

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Re:Retailers Shut Facebook Storefonts Amid Apathy by jasonlotito on Sunday February 19, 2012 @07:28AM (#3609204)

He's Canadian. To make the purchase, he'd have to purchase from Apple.ca, where prices are much more expensive, not to mention the tax rate for Quebec (which I think is up to 18% now). Anyways, while visiting, we were going to pass by the store one day, and decided to make the stop.

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Re:Retailers Shut Facebook Storefonts Amid Apathy by 18pfsmt on Sunday February 19, 2012 @11:14AM (#3609607)

Fair enough. However, it sounds like you overestimate the experience at other retailers. Waiting in checkout lines is also a bottleneck where one grabs the product off-the-shelf. Lines are typical in popular stores.

For example, a few days before Xmas I spilled beer on my keyboard and had to get a new one ASAP. I drove down to BestBuy, walked back to where all the keyboards were on display, and quickly scanned the shelves. I prefer wired to wireless for the desktop, and quickly found there were only 2 (out of ~15) wired models. They were gaming-oriented with all sorts of cruft, costing ~$80. I glanced around, noticed the Apple product area, walked over and found a simple Apple wired keyboard for $50 (I don't even own a Mac). I spent the next 20min in the checkout line, where the cashier tried to get me to signup for some program(s) of theirs. Not a pleasant experience either.

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Re:Retailers Shut Facebook Storefonts Amid Apathy by pbreit on Sunday February 19, 2012 @07:11AM (#3609187)

This is extremely surprising to hear. I have never been to an Apple store (100+ visits to 2 dozens stores) where I could imagine this happening.

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Re:Retailers Shut Facebook Storefonts Amid Apathy by jasonlotito on Sunday February 19, 2012 @07:38AM (#3609220)

I don't think you mean that (or if you do, you aren't really trying). It's easy to imagine how the Apple Stores model breaks down. Just imagine a busy day, with a dozen people in before you waiting on sales reps who are all busy. A large number of these people have countless questions. Imagine if a sales rep spent just 15 minutes with each customer, answering questions.

Either way, whether you could imagine it or not, it happened. I'm not here to just bash Apple, either. The Apple Store is a different experience. But, it's not optimized for people that know what they want. If I want to buy an Apple product, I get better experience going to other stores. If I want to socialize and discuss how awesome Apple products are, then yeah, the Apple Store is a great place to go.

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