HIGHLIGHTS
* Apple is all set to open its first retail store in India in Mumbai.
* The company has revealed the barricade of its first retail store in India located at the Jio World Drive Mall, Mumbai.
* The Apple store is inspired by the iconic Kaali Peeli taxi art that is unique to Mumbai
* The store will be located in Mumbai’s Jio World Drive mall.
* A glimpse of the same is now out.
Apple has officially confirmed that it is opening its first retail store in India and will be called Apple BKC.
Apple was in talks of opening its own retail store in India for quite some time and it’s finally happening.
Apple revealed the barricade of its first retail store in India at Jio World Drive Mall, Mumbai officially marking the upcoming opening of Apple BKC.
The Apple BKC store is inspired by the iconic Kaali Peeli taxi art unique to Mumbai. The creative includes colourful interpretations of the decals combined with many Apple products and services that will be available for visitors.
The creative for the store features a bright welcome to people passing by with the classic Apple greeting “Hello Mumbai”.
To celebrate the opening of the new store, Apple fans can download the new Apple BKC wallpaper and also check out a new playlist on Apple Music for the launch of its first store in India.
The Apple BKC store will be open to public in April itself and Apple reportedly has plans to open another retail store in New Delhi later.
Apple recently announced that it has set another all-time revenue record for the Indian market.
“We set a quarterly revenue record and grew very strong double digits year over year and so we feel very good about how we performed,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook said in February.
Apple sold 2 million iPhones in India in the holiday quarter (Q4) of 2022, registering 18 per cent growth (quarter-on-quarter) for its flagship device. The India market share of iPhones reached 5.5% for 2022, an 11% growth (year-on-year).
That’s despite the headwinds that we talked about. India is a hugely exciting market for us and a major focus.
We broughtAthe online store there in 2020. We will soon bring Apple Retail there,” he added February.
Despite the pandemic, Apple has continued to grow in India. “That’s the reason why we are investing there by bringing retail there, bringing the online store there and putting out a significant amount of energy there. I’m very bullish on India,” said Cook.
Apple’s new retail store in Mumbai
To celebrate the opening of the new store, visitors can download the new Apple BKC wallpaper and move to the sounds of Mumbai with a specially curated playlist Apple Music.
The exact opening date of the Apple Store in India is not revealed but we believe it could happen before the end of this month, April.
Based on earlier reports, the first Apple Store in Jio World Drive Mall will have over 22,000 square feet.
The Cupertino giant started hiring for several posts for retail stores in India back in January.
The company is apparently planning on openings its second store, which will spread across 10,000 to 12,000 square feet in New Delhi’s Select CityWalk mall.
The second Apple retail store in India is expected to be open sometime in June 2023. We’re curious to see what design inspiration will Apple take for the Delhi store.
Apple has grown miles in the premium segment in the last few quarters all thanks to the big festival days sale on various e-commerce platforms that offer iPhones at unbelievable prices.
The company’s push towards the retail stores will only grow its market bigger in the days to come.
Apple ‘Make in India’
Apple performed well last year as its ‘Make in India’ shipments grew by 65 per cent by volume and 162 per cent by value in 2022. A report by Counterpoint Research reveals that the company’s value share grew to 25 per cent in 2022, up from 12 per cent in 2021.
Senior Research Analyst, Prachir Singh revealed that Apple’s EMS (Electronics Manufacturing Services) partners Foxconn Hon Hai and Wistron were the fastest growing manufactures among the top 10 in Q4 2022. These two manufacturers even received the PLI incentive in the recent disbursements.
FAQ’s on Apple retail store in Mumbai India
1) How is Apple shares glimpse of first retail store in India?
Ans) The store is located at the prime location in Mumbai as the Jio World Drive mall is home to some iconic brands from around the world.
Talking about the colourful barricade surrounding the store, Apple said in a statement, “Inspired by the iconic Kaali Peeli taxi art unique to Mumbai, the Apple BKC creative includes colourful interpretations of the decals combined with many Apple products and services that will be available for our customers to discover.”
The company adds, “The creative for the store features a bright welcome to people passing by with the classic Apple greeting Hello Mumbai.”
That is not all.
Visitors will also get a chance to download the new Apple BKC wallpaper as well as a specially curated playlist on Apple Music to celebrate the new store’s opening.
The much-awaited Apple store is expected to launch as soon as this month.
2) Is the Next store in New Delhi?
Ans) Earlier, reports had surfaced that Apple will also be opening a new store in New Delhi after the Mumbai store’s launch.
The New Delhi retail store is expected to be located at the popular Select Citywalk Mall in Saket and we might hear more about it as soon as next month. Reports also suggest that the New Delhi store will be over 10,000 square feet.
It is high time that Apple opens up its physical retail stores in India. Until now, Indian customers could buy Apple products from the company’s official website or resellers.
However, the official Apple stores around the world remain a class apart and get thousands of visitors.
It is indeed exciting that Apple is finally bringing its physical stores to India as well. Apart from selling its products, the company regularly holds ‘Today at Apple’ sessions at its stores across the world.
These sessions are usually hosted in collaboration with content creators, to educate customers on ways of using Apple products for creating avant-garde content. In India, the company hosted the ‘Today At Apple’ event at the India Art Fair held in New Delhi this year.
Apple has a huge market in India and previous reports had suggested that the company is looking forward to shifting its focus to India for more growth. The company’s CEO, Tim Cook, had also said during a meeting that India is a ‘hugely exciting market’ for Apple and is a ‘major focus’.
3) How has Apple financial graph been in India ?
Ans) Apple sold 2 million iPhones in India in the holiday quarter (Q4) of 2022, registering 18 per cent growth (quarter-on-quarter) for its flagship device. The India market share of iPhones reached 5.5 per cent for 2022, an 11 per cent growth (year-on-year).
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