Industry sources said the company may take a whole floor in a prime mall or a large space in a premier high-street location. Apple’s retail stores also need logistics support like call centres.
Currently in India, consumers buy Apple products through online platforms like Amazon and Flipkart and from physical stores which are its authorised resellers. Industry sources said around 40% of Apple’s sales in the country is via online channels.
Apple is known for its vast flagship stores globally. For instance, the company has a flagship store located in Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Another one is located Fifth Avenue in New York City.
The Financial Times reported on January 8 that Apple has begun hiring retail store workers in India and has plans to fill other roles as well.
According to the report, the company’s careers page lists several different opportunities for workers in India, including business expert, “genius”, operations expert and technical specialist.
Apple’s website currently shows over a hundred results for job positions in India. The retail positions, posted on January 7, were listed for various locations within the country, including Mumbai and New Delhi.
Apple had in 2019 taken around 20,000 sq ft space in Reliance Industries-owned Jio World Drive at Bandra Kurla complex in Mumbai for opening its retail store. However, this was put on hold with the pandemic setting in early 2020. Subsequently, the plan was to open the store in 2021 or 2022, which also got delayed. Industry sources said the stores would now come up during the current year.
Meanwhile, the company has been expanding its retail presence in India through
franchisee-owned and operated outlets, which are known as Apple Resellers.
Emerging markets like India made a strong contribution to Apple’s record revenue of $90.1 billion during the September quarter, when the company’s annual revenue rose 8% to $394 billion. Apple Inc follows October-September financial year.
“Across nearly every geographic segment, we reached a new revenue record for the quarter and we continue to perform incredibly well in emerging markets with very strong double digit growth in India, South East Asia and Latin America,” CEO Tim Cook had said.
According to CyberMedia Research data, sales of iPhones in India grew 44% quarter-on-quarter during the July-September quarter at 1.7 million units.
In FY22, Apple India’s net profit rose 3% year-on-year to Rs 1,263 crore, whereas its revenue from operations rose 45.8% to `33,313 crore during the year, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies in the ministry of corporate affairs.
According to a report by Canalys, globally Apple was the only vendor among the top five to have recorded a strong positive growth of 8% in the September quarter, owing to heavy demand of iPhones despite a weak market. The premium smartphone maker has improved its market share globally to 18% from 15% in the year-ago period.