Apple opens Pune store, eyes larger slice of India market

Pune: Apple has officially inaugurated its Pune retail store, ‘Apple Koregaon Park’, at KOPA Mall in Koregaon Park on Thursday. This was Apple’s fourth company owned retail store in Pune, opening just two days after the company’s third outlet, ‘Apple Hebbal’, was inaugurated in Bengaluru on Sept 2. The Pune store, as do Apple’s other stores in BKC (Mumbai), Saket (New Delhi), and Bengaluru, will stock Apple’s complete product range — iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, HomePod, Apple TV, etc, as well as accessories. Customers will also be able to experience Apple’s services, including in-store support, such as tailored guidance, device support, and tools.

Apple says 68 employees from 11 states will staff the store, offering technical assistance, personalised setup, and step-by-step guidance for those switching to iOS.

Dedicated business teams will also be available to provide advice and solutions tailored to companies of varying sizes, the company added.According to Apple, like its other facilities, the Koregaon Park store will operate on 100% renewable energy and is carbon neutral.Wendy Beckman, Apple’s vice president of retail for Europe, Middle East, and India, told TOI that Pune’s spirit and Apple’s ethos were at the core of the Koregaon Park store.

“I think what you’ll find is, no matter where you’re at and no matter what store, there’s this thread of consistency: 1) Our team and the core values, 2) A really welcoming environment, and 3) The ability to bring the best of Apple to light.”Beyond shopping, the store will host free daily ‘Today at Apple’ sessions aimed at helping people make better use of their devices. These sessions, which can be booked online for individuals and groups, include practical workshops such as improving iPhone photography, using the iPad for creative tasks, exploring Apple Intelligence, and getting started with a Mac.According to Beckman, Pune, the “city of educators and students” deserved a store that reflected the community. “We want to make sure, and create an experience for those customers that are coming in, whether it’s ‘Today at Apple’ sessions, our teams and how they represent the community ... that’s what starts to create a texture in each store.” Apple’s first-party retail journey in India started when the company started selling its products through its official website in September 2020, shortly after the launch of the iPhone 12 series.

The company followed that up by inaugurating ‘Apple BKC’ and ‘Apple Saket’ within a week of each other in April 2023. Earlier this year, the company introduced two new ways for customers to buy Apple products — ‘Shop with a Specialist’, a personalised shopping experience where experts on video guide customers in making their purchase; and the inbuilt Apple Store app.“If you think about just the journey we’ve been on, we started with online, then we opened the physical retail environment, [and] then to be able to have the Apple Store app and then to add ‘Shop with a Specialist’ on video ...

[this] is really good for the customers, and I think it gives us the opportunity to build up over time,” Beckman said.She added that Apple’s in-store specialists will guide customers to buy the product they need, and not necesarily the most expensive on offer. “Our specialists have the ability to navigate with a customer to actually make sure [a product] meets the needs of their use case, which I think is super important.

Sometimes people might come in and want the top model, but that’s not what they’ll use. And so we want people to get what they need,” Beckman said.Apple’s company-owned retail stores in India, launched in Mumbai and Delhi in April 2023, have generated more than ₹600 crore in their first year, ranking among the top-performing Apple stores globally. The two stores regularly see monthly revenues of ₹16-17 crore each, reflecting Apple’s focus on capturing India’s fast-growing premium smartphone and tech market, with new stores planned in additional cities.