iStore In A Box
The retail experience has evolved dramatically over the past 15 years. I started to notice it when Virgin Entertainment Group opened their one and only Virgin Megastore in Vancouver, B.C. I was hired as their West Coast Marketing Manager to create awareness and generate sales for 10 different product departments of Vancouver’s newest three-level mega-shopping experience.
By the time I left to pursue opportunities in the dot-com industry, it was clear that as music shifted from CDs to a digital format, the people’s buying methods were changing. By 2000, technology was starting to drive the consumer’s means in which they experienced the products they wanted to buy.
Apple set the bar higher when it opened Apple Stores in 2001. The concept of the interactive, learning customer experience was a stretch well beyond the innovation of Richard Branson’s Virgin Megastore experience. As of May 2013, there are now more than 407 Apple Stores worldwide.
Last week, as I headed home from a family reunion in Ottawa, Ontario, I discovered something new. Ottawa’s international airport had an iStore in a box. This does not surprise me as many retail chains including Virgin have captured the travel market by creating hybrid stores that carry very specific merchandise for travelling consumers who often have little time to make their purchasing decisions.
The iStore Express at the airport is unique because it is simply a large version of the latest self-serve vending machines, yet it sells everything from iPod Touches to a multitude of Apple accessories. It is certainly the first vending machine I have seen in North America with items priced well over $100.
I can appreciate the fact that Apple remains forward thinking in its approach to consumer buying behaviours, yet are we truly becoming a self-service nation?
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