Apple Watch Sales Will Focus On Building Trust, Fashion, Bands
During the sales process, Apple expects customers to make comments similar to the examples below:
- Looks good—”I love how it will coordinate with many of my outfits.”
- Functionality—”I love that I just have to raise my wrist to have the display turn on.”
- Good financial investment—”I think I can afford that.”
- Durability—”I’m sure I’ll have this for years.”
- Ease of use—”That’s so easy.”
- Versatility—”Wow, there’s so many options for straps.”
These six bullet points are very interesting, but the one that sticks out to me the most is “Versatility.” I continue to believe that Bands are a potentially big business for Apple and that one of their goals, whether it be purchased at the same time as Apple Watch or later, is to get customers to buy more Bands. We still don’t know if Apple will lock third-party vendors out to start, but I can’t help but see this as a very big selling point.
Gurman continues:
Emphasizing style over function, retail employees will be instructed to provide fashion advice like an eyeglass salesperson might at a glasses store. This is new territory for Apple, a company that has traditionally sold products that sit in pockets and on tables. Clearly, the new selling techniques were shaped by some of Apple’s recent hires from the fashion industry, including Burberry’s Angela Ahrendts & Chester Chipperfield, Yves St. Laurent’s Paul Deneve & Catherine Monnier, Tag Heuer’s Patrick Pruniaux, and Louis Vuitton’s Jacob Jordan.
Notice how Gurman points out that Apple is emphasizing style over function. Again, this is what confuses the average “techie” who rarely puts style over function when making a decision on technology. But Apple Watch is a different product. It’s a product that lives on your wrist, that isn’t largely hidden from plain sight (when not in use) like laptops, tablets and phones. It’s important that style is put first.