iStore, which specializes in selling Apple products, ventures into shopping malls

21/09/2015
TORONTO — The retailer iStore’s early success hinged on its ability to offer Apple products and accessories in areas where people had no access to them: in airports, catering to stressed-out travelers who needed to buy gifts or forgot their headphones at home.

But the Montreal-based business has performed so well since it opened its first location at the city’s Trudeau International Airport in 2009 that its executives have decided to launch iStore boutiques in major malls across the country — even in ones that have Apple stores within them.
“It’s part of the learning process for us and for Apple, to see how well the concepts coexist,” iStore chief executive Joel Teitelbaum said in an interview from Montreal.
About 15 per cent of iStore’s mix consists of actual electronics — Apple products such as Macbooks, iPhones, iPads and iPods. The other 85 per cent falls under the accessories category — all products that are Apple-compatible, such as headphones by Bose and Beats, speakers, chargers, cables and plugs, as well as fashion accessories such as designer-branded iPhone cases from Ted Baker, Rebecca Minkoff and Kate Spade.
“Apple stores are amazing retail spaces, and they are focused predominantly on the sale of Apple’s own products,” Teitelbaum added. “If our stores are 85 per cent accessories and 15 per cent Apple products, their stores are probably the reverse (in terms of assortment). In that sense, we complement each other tremendously.”
This year iStore has opened three locations inside Canadian malls: Rockland Centre in Montreal, Scarborough Town Centre in Toronto, and West Edmonton Mall.
“When we looked at the malls we didn’t see anybody approaching the category in the way that we wanted to. We had a vision for a store that really marries fashion and technology,” Teitelbaum said, one that was easy to navigate and displayed products in an accessible way. iStore’s interior design more closely resembles that of the cosmetics retailer Sephora, with luxury finishes such as glossy tile floors, spacious design and solid fixtures, than the more utilitarian look of a mall-based cell phone store or The Source.

Fonte:http://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/istore-which-specializes-in-selling-apple-products-goes-head-to-head-with-tech-giant-in-malls

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