Published on: January 3, 2012
by Kevin CoupeOkay, I’m an Apple guy. That much has been pretty well established over the ten years that I’ve been doing MNB.
So, here are two recent Apple-related stories that grabbed my attention...
• Advertising Age reports that Apple’s website got more online traffic during November 2011 than Walmart’s ... and, in fact, was behind only Amazon and eBay on comScore’s list of top-15 most-visited websites in the US.
“How is it possible that the technology maker can trump the world's-largest retailer online? Because of iTunes. The digital-content store made up about 30% of Apple's more than 79 million in U.S. unique visitors last month. Apple gets almost as many web visitors as the largest newspaper site, that of The New York Times.
Ad Age goes on: “Huge iTunes traffic is good news for publishers looking to sell their products online. Digital content, which includes books, music and TV shows, is the fastest-growing e-commerce category by sales this holiday shopping season, ComScore has found. Overall e-commerce sales are up about 15% from last year, but digital-content sales growth is double that.”
The thing to keep in mind here ... this has been a longtime theme here on MNB, and no doubt will continue to be one in 2012 ... is that while traditional retailers often don’t sell “digital content,” they need to keep these kinds of surges in mind. The shopping habits of entire generations are being reshaped, and even traditional retailers need to consider how they are going to be relevant to these shoppers.
• And, the San Jose Mercury News reports that work is scheduled to begin “any day now” on a new prototype Apple store in Palo Alto, about a block away from an existing Apple Store there.
Other than to say that the new store will build on the company’s retail experience and “provide a large open retail area that is visible from outside," little is known about what will make the new store a prototype for the future.
It is a pretty good bet that the new Apple prototype store will, to paraphrase the company’s iconic ad, “push the retailing world forward.” It is a pretty good bet that the new prototype will leave the poseurs who created the highly imitative Microsoft Store concept scratching their heads.
And here is another pretty good bet. Apple has raised the bar so high that if it does not do these things, you’ll hear a lot of disappointed reviews in the old and new media, with people wondering if, post-Steve Jobs, Apple has lost something off its curve ball.
All interesting stuff to think about and look forward to in 2012...
- KC's View: