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Apple retail VP Angela Ahrendts leaves after five years
It's the end of an era for Apple's retail ambitions. Senior retail VP Angela Ahrendts is leaving the company after five years as she looks for "new personal and professional pursuits." Her replacement is People VP Deidre O'Brien, a three-decade veteran of Apple who'll continue to handle the People team in her new role.
Apple wants you to avoid product launch lines
Apple no longer wants you to wait in long lines during product launches -- in fact, it would sometimes prefer that you stay at home. An Angela Ahrendts memo leaked to Business Insider shows that the company is going to steer you toward using either the Apple Store app or its online store to buy devices like the Apple Watch and 12-inch MacBook. There's "more availability" online, she says, and you'll know just when you'll get your goods instead of "crossing your fingers" while you sit in a queue.
The parallels between Angela Ahrendts tenure at Burberry and Steve Jobs' return to Apple
The more I read about Angela Ahrendts, Apple's new retail hire, the more it becomes clear that she will be a valued and effective addition to Apple's executive team. What's more, Ahrendts views on retail and the consumer experience seem to align quite well with Apple's unique culture. This is not a point to be overlooked given that executives who don't mesh well with Apple's culture don't typically last long; the departures of Mark Papermaster of IBM and John Browett of Dixons come to mind. Coming from Burberry, Ahrendts understand the world of retail luxury, a niche Apple operates and owns with unparalleled efficiency. On a broader level, Ahrendts shares Apple's view that to create a truly compelling products and a profoundly satisfying user experience, control is paramount. ObamaPacman last Thursday tipped us off to a worthwhile article penned by Ahrendts in an early 2013 issue of the Harvard Business Review. The article details Ahrendts early days at Burberry and how she was able to turn an "aging British icon into a global luxury brand." Overall, the way Ahrendts was able to turn around a then slumping Burberry parallels in many ways Steve Jobs resurrection of Apple following his return. Further, the business philosophy underlying many of her decisions also aligns rather nicely with Apple's own. A few excerpts in particular stand out. When I became the CEO of Burberry, in July 2006, luxury was one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world. With its rich history, centered on trench coats that were recognized around the world, the Burberry brand should have had many advantages. But as I watched my top managers arrive for our first strategic planning meeting, something struck me right away. They had flown in from around the world to classic British weather, gray and damp, but not one of these more than 60 people was wearing a Burberry trench coat. I doubt that many of them even owned one. If our top people weren't buying our products, despite the great discount they could get, how could we expect customers to pay full price for them? Sound familiar? Recall that Apple executives, and Steve Jobs in particular, stated on numerous occasions that Apple only creates products that they themselves would want to use. Ahrendts continues: It was a sign of the challenges we faced. Even in a burgeoning global market, Burberry was growing at only 2% a year. The company had an excellent foundation, but it had lost its focus in the process of global expansion. We had 23 licensees around the world, each doing something different. We were selling products such as dog cover-ups and leashes. One of our highest-profile stores, on Bond Street in London, had a whole section of kilts. There's nothing wrong with any of those products individually, but together they added up to just a lot of stuff-something for everybody, but not much of it exclusive or compelling. Again, we see a parallel to Steve Jobs' return to Apple and the epic company transformation that followed. Recall that Jobs, upon returning to Apple, was dumbfounded by Apple's extensive and somewhat confusing product lineup. Jobs even remarked once that if he couldn't figure out the difference between the myriad of products Apple was selling, how could he expect consumers to? Driving the point home, take a look at this timeline of released Apple products from 1995 and 1996. So without missing a beat, Jobs proceeded to simplify Apple's product lineup, declaring that Apple just needed to focus on four areas; desktops for either professionals or consumers, and laptops for either professionals or consumers. Like Ahrendts at Burberry, Jobs recognized that spreading yourself too thin resulted in products that were neither "exclusive or compelling." In describing one of the challenges Burberry faced in 1996, Ahrendts explains that she was up against some stiff competition from the likes of companies like Louis Vuitton. We wanted a share of the disposable income of the world's most elite buyers-and to win it, we'd have to fight for prime real estate in the world's most rapidly growing consumer markets. In many ways, it felt like a David-and-Goliath battle. In a similar vein, Apple has never been blindly motivated by marketshare. On the contrary, Apple attracts the premium end of the markets it enters, one of the reasons Apple controls the lion's share of the profits in the smartphone industry. The parallels don't end there. Upon assuming the helm at Burberry, Ahrendts immediately set her sights on gauging the state of the Burberry brand. What she found was was a disjointed operation, with licensees across the globe making the same products with varying levels of quality. Her solution? A design superstar capable of re-establishing the unique luxury of Burberry's product line. Great global brands don't have people all over the world designing and producing all kinds of stuff. It became quite clear that if Burberry was going to be a great, pure, global luxury brand, we had to have one global design director. We had an incredible young designer named Christopher Bailey, with whom I'd worked at Donna Karan and who I knew was a sensational talent. So I introduced him early on as the "brand czar." I told the team, "Anything that the consumer sees-anywhere in the world-will go through his office. No exceptions." At this point, the parallel game might be getting old, but note the similarity to Jobs bestowing similar responsibility upon a then relatively unknown designer named Jony Ive. At Apple, Ahrendts will not be tasked with turning Apple around. On the contrary, Apple is a well oiled machine that doesn't need any saving. Instead, she will be tasked with expanding and enhancing. To that end, Ahrendts piece in the Harvard Business Review illustrates a retail philosophy that, once again, mimics Apple's own. To strengthen our retail operation, we decided to focus on markets where our competitors already had a presence, signaling the right kind of consumers to support a luxury brand. As our first blueprint for expansion, we identified every market in the world where two of our peers had stores and we had none. In the past six years we've opened 132 new stores, and we've refocused our retailing staff on outerwear. ... We established strong sales and service programs to put product education front and center. We created videos to demonstrate Burberry craftsmanship: All the collars are hand-rolled and hand-stitched. We equipped our sales associates with iPads and our stores with audiovisual technology to show these videos to best effect. Ahrendts entire article almost reads like a case study on Apple, albeit with the company name changed to Burberry. Ahrendts has a lot of experience in advertising to and attracting luxury customers. She understands the importance of digital marketing and the impact that media such as music and "storytelling" can have on the consumer. She understands what it takes to successfully market expensive items when cheap alternatives are plentiful. From Ahrendts point of view, it's not just about the product, it's about the entire experience. It's about what the consumer sees and feels upon walking into a retail store. It's about the quality of the craftsmanship that goes into the products. It's about hiring passionate people who are knowledgeable about the products they're selling. Furthermore, Ahrendts, like Apple, appreciates the importance of controlling the entire widget so to speak. In a profile on her in the Guardian, Ahrendts explained that "if you can't control everything, you can't control anything, not really." Taken together, Ahrendts seems like the perfect fit for Apple. When John Browett was initially hired by Apple, the move was greeted with skepticism from those who were familiar with Dixons, a retail store that many pointed out sold cheap electronics in storefronts that were often disorganized. To that end, Browett himself noted that he never quite "fit" in at Apple. All of the information that's come to light about Ahrendts seems to indicate that she will not have that problem. Again, Apple retail stores don't need saving. Rather, they need someone capable of enhancing them, expanding them, pushing into new markets and keeping them fun, hip, and educational places for consumers to come visit and shop. Her history at Burberry strongly she suggests that she is just the person for the job.
Daily Update for October 17, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple has been hiring former fashion executives, but why?
Yesterday's hiring of former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts by Apple is just latest example of what is becoming a trend for new Apple hires: A lot of them have a background in fashion. As The Mac Observer points out, Ahrendts' appointment to senior VP of Retail and Online Stores was preceded by a pair of former Nike designers and an executive from French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. In short, Apple is looking downright fabulous. But why would former fashion industry insiders be useful to Apple? It's simple: wearable tech. We've been hearing rumblings of an iWatch for some time -- though at the moment the competition seems to be doing more harm to the would-be smartwatch market than good -- and if Apple plans to release one in the future, it's going to have to be mighty sexy. Of course, there are other areas you could wear a gadget besides your wrist -- Google Glass being a fine example of this -- though if the new fashion-forward hiring trend is indeed intended to help influence new Apple products as they take shape, it's likely that we're nowhere near actually seeing them in the flesh... or on the flesh. [Image credit: Miss Karen] [via The Mac Observer]
Who is Angela Ahrendts?
After a search that took nearly a year, Apple yesterday announced that Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts will be joining Apple this spring as the company's Senior VP of Retail and Online Stores. Make no mistake about it, heading up Apple's retail stores is an extremely challenging and important position. Indeed, the short tenure of former Senior VP of Retail John Browett underscores just how challenging it is to follow in the footsteps of Ron Johnson, Apple's original retail mastermind. Apple stores are well-oiled machines that together comprise the most profitable retail business in the country. The person charged with heading up this portion of Apple's business carries a lot of responsibility, which is likely why Apple took its sweet time in finding a replacement for Browett, who was unceremoniously dismissed last October. Here's an interesting fact to consider; the top retail position at Apple has been vacant for 15 of the last 22 months. So just who is Angela Ahrendts and is there any reason to think she'll be a better fit at Apple than Browett? In a word, yes. Ahrendts comes to Apple from the world of retail luxury whereas John Browett came to Apple from Dixons, a UK-based retail chain that many were quick to label as cheap and unorganized. In other words, while Ahrendts comes to Apple from the world of fashion, she undoubtedly appreciates the importance of premium branding and cultivating a top-notch shopping experience. Whereas the April 2012 hiring of Browett was greeted with skepticism, especially by those familiar with Dixons, the hiring of Ahrendts seems to be a much better choice. Even Ron Johnson heaped praise on the hire, telling Bloomberg TV that Ahrendts is a "terrific choice" who will be "exceptionally well received". On Apple's new hire, Ron Johnson tells @BloombergTV in statement she's a "terrific choice," will be "exceptionally well received" - Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) October 15, 2013 Over the past seven years, Ahrendts served as the CEO of Burberry where she helped revitalize the company's image and bottom line, taking it to new and more profitable heights. A native of Indiana, and a reportedly tireless worker who gets up at 4:35 am everyday, Ahrendts over the past five years helped Burberry triple its revenue while simultaneously increasing product margins. During her tenure as CEO, the share price of Burberry nearly quadrupled. One of the more interesting aspects of Ahrendts is that she was able to swiftly and effectively meld the worlds of fashion and technology. While Apple likes to talk about how it stands at the intersection of liberal arts and technology, Burberry under Ahrendts seemingly stood in a similar intersection, albeit in the fashion world. CNN reports: Burberry's Spring/Summer 2013 campaign video gained over one million YouTube views in just 48 hours. And the luxury brand now has 16 million fans on Facebook and more than two million followers on Twitter. Wander around Burberry's London flagship store on Regent Street and you'll find sales assistants armed with iPads. Meanwhile mirrors transform into screens displaying catwalk images thanks to special technology sewn into some clothing and accessories. What's more is that the actual store has been redesigned to recreate an experience that reflects the company's website, Burberry World Live. In September 2012, BrandRepublic described Burberry's Regent Street store thusly: The store's features include a 22ft-high screen, 500 hidden speakers and a hydraulic stage. It also showcases RFID microchips – radio-frequency identification – in some of its clothes. This means that when a customer wears the microchipped clothing, they can look into a mirror that transforms into a screen, which shows how the garment would look on a catwalk. There will also be a digitally enabled gallery and events space. The Wall Street Journal adds: Former colleagues say she stressed the growth of Burberry's website when other luxury brands shied away from e-commerce. She placed Apple iPads in stores, streamed Burberry fashion shows live on the company website and adopted new software to cut costs and improve profitability. "She just aggressively drove technology into every facet of the business," said Justin Cooke, Burberry's former global vice president of public relations. "She saw it as a real enabler." Also of note is that Jessica Lessin, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, was able to dig up a few interesting tidbits about Ahrendts. Apple's new retail chief Angela Ahrendts is a watch lady, say people who know her. I am certainly not implying that Apple, which is developing the iWatch, nabbed this high-profile executive because she loves watches or because one of her most recent additions to the Burberry line was a very high-end watch brand (both true). I also hear she took particular interest in the watch retailing space in Burberry stores. Let's just say her passion for watches is a coincidence. Or maybe just a plus. While this is likely nothing more than a coincidence, it's certainly worth sharing given the bevy of other rumors surrounding Apple's mythical iWatch. More so, it lends more credence to the notion that Ahrendts will fit in much better at Apple than Browett ever did. Recall that Browett a few months ago indicated that he just "didn't fit" with the way Apple runs things. "It was one of those things where you're rejected for fit rather than competency," Browett explained in March of this year. As for Ahrendts, it seems like she already espouses the Apple philosophy of premium pricing for premium products. During a 2011 interview with CNN, Ahrendts was asked about Burberry's refusal to cut prices during lean economic times. She answered: Actually just the opposite. I mean, we're doing everything we can to protect the long term sustainability of the brand. You know Burberry has been around 155 years and, no, nothing short term. Everything is for the long term. That's why these big flagship stores that we're opening up, I mean we're going from 8 to 25,000 square feet of selling space just right here in London alone with our Regent street store... When you're playing long term and you're playing the global luxury brand game, it's very different. Sound familiar? Apple has of course long been criticized for not lowering the price of its products, which typically command a premium over competing products. Most recently, Apple was criticized for not making the iPhone 5c as affordable as some analysts were hoping. Lastly, it's probably quite telling that Ahrendts will head up Apple's retail and online operations. Tim Cook noted in his email to Apple employees that he has "wanted one person to lead both of these teams for some time" but never found someone capable of doing so until he met Ahrendts. As one final point, note that Burberry has 479 stores worldwide, which is about 60 more than Apple currently has.
Daily Update for October 15, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
In email to employees, Tim Cook calls Angela Ahrendts "wicked smart"
After a search that took nearly a year, Apple announced today that Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts will be joining Apple this spring, where she will take on the role of senior VP of Retail and Online Stores. Earlier today, Tim Cook sent out a company-wide email announcing the hire and praising Ahrendts as being the "best person in the world for this role." 9to5Mac was able to get its hands on the email, which reads: Team, I am thrilled to announce that Angela Ahrendts will be joining Apple as a senior vice president and member of our executive team, reporting directly to me. Angela is currently the CEO of Burberry. She will lead both our retail and online teams. I have wanted one person to lead both of these teams for some time because I believe it will better serve our customers, but I had never met anyone whom I felt confident could lead both until I met Angela. We met for the first time last January, and I knew in that meeting that I wanted her to join Apple. We've gotten to know each other over the past several months and I've left each conversation even more impressed. She shares our values and our focus on innovation. She places the same strong emphasis as we do on the customer experience. She cares deeply about people and embraces our view that our most important resource and our soul is our people. She believes in enriching the lives of others and she is wicked smart. Angela has shown herself to be an extraordinary leader throughout her career and has a proven track record. She led Burberry through a period of phenomenal growth with a focus on brand, culture, core values and the power of positive energy. Angela will need to focus over the coming months on transitioning her current role at Burberry and will then join Apple in the spring. I am sure as all of you meet her, you will see why I am so excited that she is joining our executive team. I'd like to add a special thanks to all of our retail leaders. Your strength, talent and leadership afforded me the luxury of taking the time to perform an exhaustive search to find the best person in the world for this role. Tim Also a fan of the hire is Ron Johnson, Apple's first retail executive, who is largely responsible for transforming Apple retail into the commercial success it is today. On Apple's new hire, Ron Johnson tells @BloombergTV in statement she's a "terrific choice," will be "exceptionally well received" - Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) October 15, 2013
Apple hires Burberry CEO to spruce up its retail operation
Cupertino's latest hire is an interesting one, especially when we think that about all those cool wearables that could one day take pride of place in Apple's online and physical stores. Angela Ahrendts, currently CEO of Burberry, has been recruited to fill a position that will be created just for her when she switches allegiances next spring -- as a senior VP reporting directly to Tim Cook and responsible for the "strategic direction, expansion and operation" of Apple's shopping experience. Ahrendts has already demonstrated that she can work with Apple, as Burberry helped to promote the launch of the iPhone 5s (shown above), so hopefully this union of fashion and technology will deliver better results than some others we've seen.
