eMAG Apple Shop was launched on Friday by the largest online store in Romania, eMAG, and to my surprise several hundred people they stood in line to enter the small space set up for him in the eMAG showroom.
I assume that the cunning marketing strategy of those from eMAG was at the basis of this achievement, many having the impression that a Apple Store, when in reality we are talking about a store that looks like those of other resellers in Romania, only that it was opened by eMAG.
Those from eMAG invested 1 million dollars in the opening of this store, probably most of it in the product stock, but according to Iulian Stanciu, CEO of eMAG, company Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), would have had a direct involvement in the opening eMAG Apple Shop in Romania.
More precisely, Iulian Stanciu claims that Apple "built" everything that is in the eMAG Apple Shop and here we include the furniture, the American company fully equipping it for the opening, the people from eMAG providing only the necessary space for their location.
It is the only place in Romania where Apple was directly involved. Everything we have here is built by Apple, directly. We only made the space available, they came and they equipped it completely, with equipment, with design, products, everything. And this is important, because the products can now be found everywhere, but what we offer first of all is the experience which means the whole atmosphere here, with light, the products, how they are placed, sound, plus consultants. There are two Apple consultants. There will remain one who has the role of trainer and the rest of our people are trained by Apple.
Moreover, the CEO of eMAG claims that in the eMAG Apple Shop there are now two Apple consultants who trained the eMAG employees, one of them will stay to further train the other eMAG employees who will work in the store.
Although Apple directly checks and certifies the store of each new reseller and requires that its employees be trained by its consultants, I have not heard so far that Apple invests in the opening of any reseller, no matter how big or small it is.
According to the CEO of eMAG, sales of Apple products through its online store total 30 million euros annually, most of which are produced by iPhone terminals, so eMAG Apple Shop has the role of drawing attention to Macs as well.
How successful the eMAG Apple Shop will be remains to be seen, but do not forget that we are only talking about a new store in the reseller category and nothing more.
I'm curious to know your opinion about the eMAG Apple Shop considering that I haven't been able to visit it yet.
