February 1, 2012
New Genius Hired to Run Apple Store
Speculation, almost from the moment Ron Johnson said he was leaving Apple to become CEO of J.C. Penney, was that the company would go outside the U.S. to hire its new head of retail operations. The conventional wisdom was that Apple would find its greatest opportunities for future growth outside of North America and would need an executive with a more global perspective to help it achieve its goals.
Now comes word that Apple has hired John Browett, CEO of Dixons Retail Plc, the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.K. and a reseller of Apple products.
“Our retail stores are all about customer service, and John shares that commitment like no one else we’ve met,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a press release. “We are thrilled to have him join our team and bring his incredible retail experience to Apple.”
Mr. Browett has served as CEO of Dixons since 2007. His executive experience includes stints as the head of retail operations at Tesco and as a consultant with Boston Consulting Group.
“I agonized about the move because I really love it at Dixons,” Mr. Browett told The Independent. “It was just one of those stupendous things that come along and I think I would have kicked myself in a few years’ time if I hadn’t taken it. It is an amazing opportunity to work inside a great technology company and be part of that executive team.”
A number of reports questioned whether Dixons, where stores were likened to Best Buy, made Mr. Browett the right person for Apple and its minimalist, chic white boxes.
According to The Telegraph, those who know Mr. Browett well see him as a solid pick by Apple. As CEO of Dixons, he was said to have built a close relationship with Apple and made changes that included improving the shopping experience with steps such as adding touchscreens in stores to give customers access to product information.
Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital Markets, according to a Financial Post report, gives Mr. Browett high marks for his work at Dixons including taking the steps necessary to help “Dixons fend off Best Buy’s U.K. assault.”
“He revamped Dixons’ stores and introduced a series of advertising featuring Darth Vader testing the knowledge of staff to change customer perceptions,” Mr. Abramsky is reported to have told clients.
- John Browett Joins Apple as Senior Vice President of Retail – Apple
- Apple Names Browett to Lead Retail Business Amid Global Push – Bloomberg News/San Francisco Chronicle
- Opposites attract as Dixons’ Browett is selected by Apple – The Telegraph
- Apple hires U.K. retail guru – Financial Post
- A genius career move … the man who went from Dixons (in Hemel) to boss of Apple stores (in California) – The Independent
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Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions: What do you think of the decision to hire John Browett to run Apple’s retail business? What will he need to do to keep the Apple Store on its upward trajectory?
Poll
It might sound crazy, but I don’t regard experience running a large electronic chain as necessarily being the most relevant experience required to lead Apple stores through what I think could be the most challenging period they’ve faced yet. Maybe it’s because I don’t regard Apple as an “electronics” brand to begin with.
Without knowing anything about Mr. Browett’s experience at Dixons, it’s a good sign that Apple looked outside for a new store executive. (After all, Ron Johnson was hired from the outside to start the Apple Store in the first place.) In this case, an outside hire can be expected to provide some new insights that will keep the Apple Store experience from getting stale. The bottom line is that the success of these stores is more dependent on the continuing flow of great product than the skills of one executive.
A guru and a genius; lofty setup, don’t you think? I’m certain he brings a discipline of strong strategic planning, a love for data to inform decisions and a creativity necessary to maintain the momentum created up to this point. It is all about the people, the buzz within the store, and the thirst for product. So to innovate and make the retail store a must visit location for Apple fans as well as newbies, Browett will certainly make his mark. It is tough to get in the way of what is incredibly successful. In other words, don’t mess it up (I could have used a different word, but ya’ll get the drift 😉 ).
John Browett has proved that he knows how to sell merchandise in today’s paradigm. So hiring him seems like a good decision by Apple.
What will he need to further the Apple Store on its upward trajectory? A great cook and luck!
Well … we’ll see … won’t we?
It’s a pretty tough act to follow, so he’ll need to be bold but not reckless — not an easy trick.
Put me in the camp that’s a little skeptical about this hire.
When you think of Ron Johnson going from his experience at Target and making the huge leap in thinking required to come up with the Apple Store design, you can imagine Jobs in the background goading him along the way to “Think Different.” I just wonder if Browett will bring fresh eyes to his new assignment or have a tendency to “normalize” operations more, as per what worked at Dixons. And will anyone challenge him to make changes, or will they be afraid of messing up what’s “not broken”?
Retailers are fickle about hiring. They usually hire for the last job or sometimes the current job, but typically not the next job.
This decision is more linear than I expected, as Browett runs a CES store. While Dixons has a quasi-Genius bar; I doubt they install Italian stone floors. Holiday sales volume outstripped the current Apple experience. The lines were long; the customers glum.
John has his hands full. Or as we like to say, “retail ain’t for sissies.”
Sounds like a lot more Apple stores are in the offing!
Does Dixons do business outside of Europe? Has John Browett done business outside of Europe? If the answer to either or both of those questions is no, why is he a great choice to expand in Asia? I, too, am in the skeptical column.
Count me among the underwhelmed. I don’t mean this as a knock on Browett, and I certainly wish him well, but this just all seems so…ordinary.
You know, who’s to say? I can’t think of an example of this working before (that being; a foreigner brought in to run a predominantly U.S. retail operation), but if I read between the lines, there’s already a lot of trust built up between the two parties, which is huge. Also, if Apple’s growth is going to come predominantly from overseas (does anyone know?), it may be a fantastic move.
What’s stunning, given that he’s a genius, is that he was hired by Apple and not Best Buy … although they may have tried.
From the Dixons’ site: “Dixons Retail plc is Europe’s largest specialist electrical retailer and services company. We operate in 26 countries, with over 1,200 stores in 13 countries, across Europe employing over 38,000 people. We are the number one market leaders in the UK & Ireland, Nordics, Greece and the Czech Republic.”
There’s one reality not yet addressed that may have factored into Apple’s decision — the rest of the developed world is generally ahead of the U.S. when it comes to technology. Reaching offshore seems to make sense in that regard. Though I was surprised to see Europe and not Asia as the source.
Stick to the mission and goals set when the move was initiated. Who knows, maybe he will bring fresh ideas to the conference room table.
It’s interesting because Apple fans in the UK are the most distraught about the hire. Largely because Dixons is not a particularly rich or engaging customer experience.
One blogger (Tony Hart) actually sent Tim Cook an e-mail expressing his concern, and in Steve Jobs tradition, Tim responded to him:
Tony,
I talked to many people and John was the best by far. I think you will be as pleased as I am. His role isn’t to bring Dixons to Apple, [it’s] to bring Apple to an even higher level of customer service and satisfaction.
Tim
Clearly Tim feels John his guy, and obviously a major focus for Apple was someone with global experience, so it certainly wasn’t a surprise to see a non American hire. It’s going to be interesting to watch.
Dixons improved its customer service from extremely poor to quite average. It has very low brand loyalty and fails to create any in-store theatre or consumer excitement. Its sales and profits are falling as it has failed to find an alternative strategy to the low prices it solely uses to drive footfall.
On the other hand, Apple is a premium brand that revels in consumer experiences, has massive brand loyalty and is great at generating almost hysteria-like enthusiasm among its shoppers.
Go figure if this is a great fit or not.
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It might sound crazy, but I don’t regard experience running a large electronic chain as necessarily being the most relevant experience required to lead Apple stores through what I think could be the most challenging period they’ve faced yet. Maybe it’s because I don’t regard Apple as an “electronics” brand to begin with.
Without knowing anything about Mr. Browett’s experience at Dixons, it’s a good sign that Apple looked outside for a new store executive. (After all, Ron Johnson was hired from the outside to start the Apple Store in the first place.) In this case, an outside hire can be expected to provide some new insights that will keep the Apple Store experience from getting stale. The bottom line is that the success of these stores is more dependent on the continuing flow of great product than the skills of one executive.
A guru and a genius; lofty setup, don’t you think? I’m certain he brings a discipline of strong strategic planning, a love for data to inform decisions and a creativity necessary to maintain the momentum created up to this point. It is all about the people, the buzz within the store, and the thirst for product. So to innovate and make the retail store a must visit location for Apple fans as well as newbies, Browett will certainly make his mark. It is tough to get in the way of what is incredibly successful. In other words, don’t mess it up (I could have used a different word, but ya’ll get the drift 😉 ).
John Browett has proved that he knows how to sell merchandise in today’s paradigm. So hiring him seems like a good decision by Apple.
What will he need to further the Apple Store on its upward trajectory? A great cook and luck!
Well … we’ll see … won’t we?
It’s a pretty tough act to follow, so he’ll need to be bold but not reckless — not an easy trick.
Put me in the camp that’s a little skeptical about this hire.
When you think of Ron Johnson going from his experience at Target and making the huge leap in thinking required to come up with the Apple Store design, you can imagine Jobs in the background goading him along the way to “Think Different.” I just wonder if Browett will bring fresh eyes to his new assignment or have a tendency to “normalize” operations more, as per what worked at Dixons. And will anyone challenge him to make changes, or will they be afraid of messing up what’s “not broken”?
Retailers are fickle about hiring. They usually hire for the last job or sometimes the current job, but typically not the next job.
This decision is more linear than I expected, as Browett runs a CES store. While Dixons has a quasi-Genius bar; I doubt they install Italian stone floors. Holiday sales volume outstripped the current Apple experience. The lines were long; the customers glum.
John has his hands full. Or as we like to say, “retail ain’t for sissies.”
Sounds like a lot more Apple stores are in the offing!
Does Dixons do business outside of Europe? Has John Browett done business outside of Europe? If the answer to either or both of those questions is no, why is he a great choice to expand in Asia? I, too, am in the skeptical column.
Count me among the underwhelmed. I don’t mean this as a knock on Browett, and I certainly wish him well, but this just all seems so…ordinary.
You know, who’s to say? I can’t think of an example of this working before (that being; a foreigner brought in to run a predominantly U.S. retail operation), but if I read between the lines, there’s already a lot of trust built up between the two parties, which is huge. Also, if Apple’s growth is going to come predominantly from overseas (does anyone know?), it may be a fantastic move.
What’s stunning, given that he’s a genius, is that he was hired by Apple and not Best Buy … although they may have tried.
From the Dixons’ site: “Dixons Retail plc is Europe’s largest specialist electrical retailer and services company. We operate in 26 countries, with over 1,200 stores in 13 countries, across Europe employing over 38,000 people. We are the number one market leaders in the UK & Ireland, Nordics, Greece and the Czech Republic.”
There’s one reality not yet addressed that may have factored into Apple’s decision — the rest of the developed world is generally ahead of the U.S. when it comes to technology. Reaching offshore seems to make sense in that regard. Though I was surprised to see Europe and not Asia as the source.
Stick to the mission and goals set when the move was initiated. Who knows, maybe he will bring fresh ideas to the conference room table.
It’s interesting because Apple fans in the UK are the most distraught about the hire. Largely because Dixons is not a particularly rich or engaging customer experience.
One blogger (Tony Hart) actually sent Tim Cook an e-mail expressing his concern, and in Steve Jobs tradition, Tim responded to him:
Tony,
I talked to many people and John was the best by far. I think you will be as pleased as I am. His role isn’t to bring Dixons to Apple, [it’s] to bring Apple to an even higher level of customer service and satisfaction.
Tim
Clearly Tim feels John his guy, and obviously a major focus for Apple was someone with global experience, so it certainly wasn’t a surprise to see a non American hire. It’s going to be interesting to watch.
Dixons improved its customer service from extremely poor to quite average. It has very low brand loyalty and fails to create any in-store theatre or consumer excitement. Its sales and profits are falling as it has failed to find an alternative strategy to the low prices it solely uses to drive footfall.
On the other hand, Apple is a premium brand that revels in consumer experiences, has massive brand loyalty and is great at generating almost hysteria-like enthusiasm among its shoppers.
Go figure if this is a great fit or not.