Cult of Apple hits new heights as Apple Stores reach breaking point

While most store owners would bite your arm of for a few customers, it seems the Apple Store has the opposite problem – overcrowding in its high street retail outlets.

Apple has received a lot of praise for its stores, which have managed to epitomise high street cool with a bunch of products that, when made by anyone else, are seemingly branded ‘geek’ and derided as nerdy at best.

But the downside of this retail success is that you need to serve all those gadget hungry followers. 

According to a story over at The Register, founder of ‘curated market intelligence’ firm Asymco Horace Dediu has said Apple Stores are doing this by hiring more retail staff. But this doesn’t get away from overly busy stores.

Dediu said ““Apple… now averages over 100 employees per store, which is rising to meet traffic. Apple is throwing bodies at the problems… but it’s getting too crowded and it can’t keep this up forever.”

Expansion seems to be the obvious option, but what is the secret to Apple’s success? While selling products labelled with one of the coolest brands on the planet certainly helps a tad, Asymco also points to Apple’s attitude towards sales as a key.

Unlike many stores, members of staff don’t get commission for sales – they’re simple paid higher than the average retail employee in an attempt to get them to do it for the love. It’s certainly an approach I would’ve appreciated in my days in retail and it certainly seems to be working, so good on them.