What’s in store? Excited Apple aficionados hope an end to long waits for the latest products, disappointing after-sales service

Apple store

Neha Kothi, 25, and her friends have been waiting for at least six months to upgrade their Apple products as they want to pick them from the new Mumbai store when it opens. Kothi and her family have been Apple loyalists for the past eight years.

The family, though, have not always had it easy finding their favourite Apple products at their nearest resellers and large format retailers. Moreover, customer service and after-sales service have been inconsistent across authorised stores in Mumbai.

Kothi, an HR professional, said her father would often ask his friends in New York to get the product in question whenever they are visiting India or she would get it herself when she travelled to Dubai.

“My iPhone stopped working in the middle of the pandemic and I was using my dad’s older iPhone. When I finally went to buy the iPhone 13 Pro during its launch, I had to wait for four months to get the product in Indian stores despite pre-ordering before the launch. Hopefully, now we’ll find Apple products at the same time as the rest of the world,” Kothi told Moneycontrol.

Vinod, 46, a pilot by profession who declined to give his full name has seen several iconic Apple stores across the globe, reputed for their unique design and architecture. But the one-time Apple user decided to move to Android. Reason? Really bad after-sales service in India.

“The after-sales service was pathetic at the so-called authorised dealers. It was so slow and poor, it is bad for Apple’s reputation. Eventually, I shifted to Android. Hope that would improve with the new store launch in India,” he said.

Shiminder, 48, a real estate professional who, too, declined to give his full name swears by Apple and has bought all his products from the store at Covent Garden in London, where he lives.

“I wish they had opened a store in India way earlier given the sheer number of customers they have here,” he said during his recent visit to the country.
“But I am super-excited to see the store here and what they have behind that cover. I think it will open soon,” he added.

Both Kothi and Vinod complained of not finding all of Apple’s products at one store. If they purchased an iPad from one store, they would often need to visit another store to find the right add-on keyboard.

The entrance of the Apple store from outside the mall. | Credits : Debangana Ghosh (Moneycontrol)

The big bright canvas

Moneycontrol visited the location of the first company-owned store in India, which is at Jio World Drive Mall in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). On April 5, Apple teased the upcoming retail store likely to open later this month. BKC is a centrally located commercial hub in Mumbai, with the biggest offices, restaurants and key recreational spots of the city.

As you enter the relatively silent mall on a mid-week afternoon, it’s hard to guess that it’s the same building that will soon be the centre of media and customer frenzy. The barricaded store is not easy to spot from the outside. But once you are in, you cannot miss why Apple would have chosen this mall.

The mall houses premium to luxury brands including Emporio Armani, Bally, Dior, Mont Blanc, Michael Kors and Paul Smith, to name a few. We had to be directed by at least a couple of salesmen on the way to the other end of the mall, literally the back gate.

Once you are there, the barricade of a colourful canvas screaming ‘Hello Mumbai’ at you in very bright colours starts from inside the mall. As you walk outside the gate, you start getting the full view of the huge and tall roof of the store, which covers a massive area of the mall from one corner. Apple’s colourful logo meant for India shows up at the corner along with the message, ‘Apple BKC, Arriving soon.’

About the logo, the company said that it took inspiration from the iconic kaali-peeli taxi art unique to Mumbai. The Apple BKC creative includes colourful interpretations of the decals combined with many Apple products and services that will be available for our customers to discover, the company added.

“Customers have been asking about the store’s launch for a couple of months now. You know, the Apple-buying crowd,” a salesman seeking anonymity said, referring to the premium pricing and niche customer base of the brand and the mall.

The salesman added that the members of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani’s family, who also own the mall, are expected to be present at the store’s launch, though Moneycontrol couldn’t ascertain that independently.

The mall’s staff said that the construction of the store has been in the works for over two years now, before the mall opened to customers. The mall started operations in October 2021.

Emailed queries sent to RIL await responses. Any comments from the company will be updated in the article.

The bright canvas barricade outside the store. | Credits : Debangana Ghosh (Moneycontrol)

Is it too late for Apple?

Sanchit Vir Gogia, founder and CEO at advisory firm Greyhound Research, believes that Apple is not late to open a store in India. It is in fact a calculated move built over the last few years, as it waited to achieve critical mass in terms of sales and shifting manufacturing.

“The bricks and stone movement happened layer by layer over the past few years. First, Apple started shifting manufacturing, then the support setup and now retail setup so they are able lay the onus starting nuts and bolts to stages above on India and away from China,” he told Moneycontrol.

While Apple has been manufacturing older iPhone models in India since 2017, last year onwards, it started manufacturing latest phone models starting with iPhone 14. Apple has been trying to move out its manufacturing capacity from China to elsewhere amidst supply chain and geopolitical issues, restrictions due to the pandemic etc.

Gogia added that the flagship store is not meant for increasing sales but to provide an experience.

“This a part of the experience store strategy. The intent is not to drive sales but to open a flagship experience store. Mumbai is the financial capital of the country, plus it will have Reliance Jio as a partner, which has a huge customer base. This is a lot broader than just a retail setup,” he said.

Navkendar Singh, associate vice president at market research consultancy IDC India, said, “If it’s an Apple store, it will be at the best location in the region. The idea is to appeal to the premium customer.”

Mumbai contributes nearly 10 percent to iPhone sales in India, second largest after Delhi, Counterpoint Research said.

Singh said that Apple might be a little late compared to its peers, but is at the right time for itself as the pandemic is over and customers are now opening up to buying premium products.

“The differentiator will be the experience of the store and the availability of all the products and variants under one roof. This is not possible at third-party stores,” he added. Singh also highlighted that staff at Apple stores are much more aware and educated in terms of app support, troubleshooting, etc., compared to regular smartphone salesmen.

According to Counterpoint Research, Apple captured 25 percent of ‘Made in India’ smartphone shipments by value in 2022, compared to 12 percent in 2021. The company's ‘Made in India’ shipments grew by 65 percent year-on-year by volume and 162 percent by value in 2022, it said.

Apple’s partners Foxconn and Wistron were also the fastest growing manufacturers among the top 10 in Q4 2022, Counterpoint’s report said.

Analysts are confident that with the new flagship store in the city, much of the business from offline third-party resellers could go to the store.

Apple’s India business

At present, Apple leads India's premium smartphone market (above Rs 30,000) and the overall domestic smartphone market in terms of shipment value in Q4 2022, according to Counterpoint Research.

It clocked record shipments of over 6.5 million units in 2022, registering a 16 percent on-year growth, the research firm said.

During its earnings conference call in February 2023, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said that India is a “hugely exciting” market for the tech giant. India is also the second-largest mobile phone market, he emphasised, adding that the company saw “record levels” of people switching to iPhones in the country.

Cook also said that the company is taking measures to grow iPhone adoption in the country by offering various financing options and trade-in to make it affordable.

Though not confirmed by the company, as per media reports, Cook is expected to visit India for the launch of this store. During his last and maiden visit to India was in 2016,  he had met several top CEOs including RIL's Ambani, startup founders, telcos and actor Shah Rukh Khan. He had also announced the Hyderabad office then which worked on developing maps for its products including iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple watch.

(Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.)