Apple's retail chief says Apple Stores won't upsell the iPhone X to customers

Imagine this scenario. You walk into the Apple Store near you sometime in 2018 and the location has a number of Apple iPhone X units running on one of the tables. But you walk right past the premium tenth anniversary model and pick up the Apple iPhone 8 because that is the model you want. And just as you are ready to pay for the device, a member of the Apple Store team starts to upsell you on the iPhone X. It has an OLED screen, a larger battery, and of course it features Face ID. And that edge-to-edge display is gorgeous. Before you know it, your $699 purchase has turned into a budget busting $999 after you give in and purchase the 64GB iPhone X.

But don't let this work of fiction scare you off from walking inside an Apple Store once the iPhone X is available in large numbers. Apple's retail chief Angela Ahrendts, told business network CNBC today that it will not upsell the iPhone X to customers. Apple's internal tag line is "an iPhone for everyone." Ahrendts says that the store will make recommendations depending on who an iPhone is being purchased for. She told the cable television audience that she would prefer the sales staff at an Apple Store find out the age of the recipient of the iPhone, and what he/she plans on doing with it.


With a new Apple Store opening today on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, the number of retail locations numbers 497. And most important, the average store brings in $5,079 in revenue per square foot. That happens to make the Apple Store the highest grossing physical retailer in the world based on sales per square foot. Which means that there should be no pressure to talk you out of a lower priced phone and talk you into the iPhone X.

source: CNBC