Photo: Apple Experience Store in Sanlitun, Beijing
Taiwanese media said that mobile phone giant Apple stores often attract endless fans, but after the rise of mainland mobile phone brands to compete for market share, Apple has begun to re-examine its high-end image, significantly slowing down the opening of physical stores, but suppliers Try to access second and third tier cities.
According to Taiwan's "Business Times" reported on October 31, The Information on October 29 pointed out that after statistics, Apple's opening of physical stores in the past two years has slowed down, and shelved a number of store plans. Reported that Apple will be repositioned in 42 stores in mainland China, and began to serve smaller cities, targeting local residents and tourists.
According to the report, Apple originally planned to open 25 physical stores in the mainland before the end of 2011, but the target will not be completed until 2016. 2015, 2016 is the peak of Apple's exhibition store, opening 26 stores in two years. But by 2017, Apple Changing the momentum of expansion in the mainland, only three stores were opened during the year.
At the same time, Apple canceled separately and shelved the physical store plan in Changsha and Harbin. This is mainly due to the strong momentum of mainland China mobile phones. Although Apple CEO Cook has been optimistic about the prospects of the Chinese market, such as Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, etc. The brand's advantage in terms of price has brought a lot of impact to Apple. These brands are gradually dividing the high-end market occupied by the iPhone.
The report believes that this is also related to Apple's physical store entering China for 10 years. The report quoted Ben Cavender, senior analyst of the mainland market research group, saying that the novelty of the iPhone and Apple stores attracted a large number of mainland fans 10 years ago, but now No longer novel, and based on patriotism, many consumers are turning to increasingly popular domestic mobile phones.
In addition, some analysts pointed out that mainland consumers are not as loyal to Apple software or other services as foreigners, and they are more accustomed to using services from local Internet companies such as Tencent.
According to the report, Apple's supply chain in the mainland is growing stronger than the slowdown in terminal sales. According to statistics, in the first half of 2018, Apple had as many as 27 suppliers in the mainland, including AAC, BOE, and Blue. Thinking technology (8.040, 0.30, 3.88%), etc., it is not difficult to see that regardless of the market level or supply chain, Apple has a deep dependence on the mainland.