It's been just a month and a half since?Apple?opened its first two retail stores in India. The first one was opened in Mumbai on April 18th, and the second one in Delhi on April 20th, 2023. And within this short period, the tech giant has achieved a feat no other electronics company?has been able to do yet.
Tim Cook's?Apple?has won a new laurel in India, i.e., operating the country's largest electronics retail store by sales. The?iPhone?maker's first two retail stores in India have earned monthly sales of over ?22-25 crore each, well over two times what could be the highest revenue for an electronics store in the country during the non-Diwali period, according to two industry executives aware of the details, as per an ET report.
Both the?Apple retail stores' inaugurals were attended by?CEO Tim Cook. The Mumbai store in Jio World Drive at Bandra Kurla Complex is now among the top 10 Apple-owned stores, executives said.?Apple BKC had a first-day billing of over ?10 crore, which is ?2-3 crore more than what some of the largest local electronics stores post in a month.?Even on a Diwali day, such large stores can reportedly have billings of Rs 3-5 crore at best.
However, the per-square-foot revenue is higher for the second store, at Select Citywalk mall in Saket, New Delhi. Apple Saket is over 10,000 square feet, less than half the 22,000 square feet of Apple BKC. But revenues are almost similar. Both Apple retail stores had an opening-day footfall of over 6,000 people?each.
"The two company-owned Apple Stores in India are setting new benchmarks in terms of absolute and per-square feet revenue," said one of the executives, as per the report. "This is due to the fact that the average selling price (ASP) of Apple products is much higher, which leads to higher revenue, and (since) footfall is still high, with both stores remaining crowded on any given day. The sales have far exceeded Apple's own internal estimates."
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According to market researcher IDC India, the iPhone's ASP (average selling price) in India in the calendar year 2022 was $935¨C990 via offline channels and $890 for e-commerce.
"ASP increase will be partly because the company launched its own stores in the two largest markets for Apple, New Delhi and Mumbai, which make up about a quarter of iPhone sales for the company," said Singh. "Apple stores will not give too many discounts and offers. Hence, we expect overall iPhone ASP to go up marginally in 2023."
The Apple retail store business in India is reportedly handled directly by regional headquarters in London; the India sales team has no direct involvement.?However, sales will be accounted for under Apple India Pvt. Ltd. since the rental agreements with the two malls are signed by this entity. Apple?operates the Saket store on a fixed rent basis, while there's a revenue share component of a little over 2% for the BKC store, executives said.
Given that Indian consumers are price-sensitive, it will be interesting to see how much longer the two stores can sustain their dominance, said the chief of a leading multi-brand electronics retail chain, as per the report. "Of course, during an iPhone launch, these stores may again score high if Apple gives disproportionately higher inventory to these outlets, as there are always stock issues during the first month of a launch."
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