In a recent interview with fashion and retail media WWD, Ron Johnson, former head of Apple's global retail business, rarely systematically reviewed his experience working with Steve Jobs to build Apple's retail system, and talked about Jobs's reaction when he left Apple. Johnson said that despite Jobs's extremely demanding and strong personality, during the long-term cooperation between the two parties, they still built Apple's retail stores into "the most productive stores in the world."
Johnson joined Apple in 2000 and served as head of global retail operations until his departure in 2011. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of Apple's retail system. During his tenure, he pushed Apple to adopt a large number of non-traditional practices in location selection, store design, customer experience and service systems, which ultimately enabled Apple retail stores to develop extremely high brand recognition and business efficiency around the world.
In the interview, Johnson detailed the details of working with Jobs, saying that Jobs had extremely strong personal preferences for retail location and design, and many key decisions required repeated communication and persuasion. For example, Jobs initially "hated" the idea of opening Apple retail stores in shopping malls, believing that such an environment was "full of bad stores" and could hardly accept stores with pillars. To this end, Johnson had to make adjustments to the location and structure of some stores, and even needed to obtain approval from Jobs himself for the plan with columns one by one.
Despite this, Johnson emphasized that Jobs always recognized his professional abilities in the retail industry, and the two formed a partnership of collision and mutual trust during their long-term cooperation, and also developed a friendship that lasted for many years. In his view, Apple's retail success is gradually accumulated in the process of constantly "polishing the vision", rather than being achieved overnight.
When talking about his most iconic achievement, Johnson specifically mentioned the iconic Apple glass cube retail store on Fifth Avenue in New York. He revealed that from a business goal perspective, in order for an Apple retail store to achieve profitability, it usually needs to achieve annual sales of approximately US$15 million. The Fifth Avenue store in New York achieved sales of US$1 million on its first night of opening, and then set a sales record of US$350 million within a year. Around the time of his departure, the overall performance of Apple's retail stores far exceeded the initial profit threshold set, with annual sales of approximately $50 million at almost every store.
Johnson said that the key to Apple's retail stores achieving such results around the world is to build a complete experience around "allowing consumers to truly understand the product." At that time, large electrical appliance stores represented by CompUSA, Circuit City, etc. generally had problems with messy displays and poor maintenance, and many small Apple authorized stores did not even have equipment for demonstrations. In contrast, Apple's self-operated stores have invested heavily in product displays, interactive experiences and scenario-based demonstrations. They not only allow customers to see Macs or iPods, but also truly experience the collaborative use of these devices with peripherals such as cameras and printers, and learn how to burn CDs, import and edit photos and other specific scenarios.
Based on this concept, the "Genius Bar" has become an integral part of Apple's retail experience. Johnson recalled that store employees at the time would try their best to find out what customers really wanted when they came to the store, and then solve the problem by recommending new products or providing technical support, rather than simply driving sales. He pointed out that Apple retail has been designed from the beginning to be organized around customer needs, rather than around shelves and inventory in the traditional sense.
In the interview, Johnson also gave a more complete review of his departure from Apple for the first time, as well as Jobs's attitude at the time. He said that when he proposed the idea of leaving his job to Jobs, the other person was very supportive and understood his love for the retail industry itself and his choice of personal career development. However, this timing is extremely sensitive for Apple - in 2011, Jobs had just learned that he only had about six months to live.
Out of respect for Jobs, Johnson ultimately chose to postpone his departure from Apple, agreeing to stay on until after Jobs's death before officially leaving. Afterwards, he moved to the US department store chain JCPenney and became CEO, but according to the industry, he still left the most profound mark on Apple’s retail system.
In this long interview spanning multiple stages of his career, Johnson not only combed through the process of Apple retail from concept to implementation to becoming "the most efficient store in the world", but also reflected on the changes in the retail industry. He believes that the root of Apple's retail success lies in adhering to a long-term vision and continuous iteration, using time and details to polish a customer experience that is different from traditional stores, rather than relying solely on "Internet celebrity-style" store design.
Johnson also revealed that his new book "Shop Different: How Retail Revealed Apple’s Genius" co-written with co-author Zander Nethercutt is scheduled to be officially published on September 22. It will tell the behind-the-scenes story of Apple’s retail in a more complete length, as well as his personal practices and thinking in retail companies such as Target and JCPenney.