Apple looks to further expand its retail presence around the globe with a new partnership according to a report out of the Times of India. The report claims that Apple has inked a deal with the consumer electronics retail chain Croma that will see Croma build new Apple-dedicated retail spaces in six of its retail locations, very similar to how Best Buy does in the United States.
Each Apple-dedicated retail space will be between 400-square-feet and 500-square-feet and will take many design cues from Apple’s own retail stores. This includes the iconic wooden tables, bright lighting, and demo units. Each Croma location with an Apple section will also have a handful of employees trained by Apple to showcase its products, again similar to Best Buy in the United States.
Avijit Mitra, the CEO of Croma’s parent company Infiniti Retail, confirmed the deal and said he is very excited to work with Apple:
“We are proud to partner Apple to launch the Apple Store in India and extremely bullish about it. These stores will be modeled on the global design and will offer the best experience to consumers, showcasing the entire range of Apple products.”
Near the end of last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two reportedly discussed the possibility of brining Apple Pay to India, as well as Apple potentially setting up a manufacturing base in the country. For Apple, there’s a strong incentive to set up manufacturing in India. Currently, Indian trade laws prohibit companies from opening manufacturer-owned retail outlets unless a certain percentage of the manufacturing is done within the country. If Apple were to set up manufacturing in India, it could theoretically open its own retail stores in the country, too. During this meeting, however, it’s also likely that Cook and Modi discussed Apple’s current method of opening stores within other stores in India.
India has been a market of growing interest for Apple recently. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are slated to launch in the country on October 16th. Revenue for Apple in India also recently broke a billion dollars thanks to its launch of an aggressive trade-in program.
With India’s sales growth currently outstripping that of China, the country could be another huge opportunity for Apple and the expansion in retail presence with the Croma partnership certainly helps. These stores are set to launch by Diwali next month.
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rich getting richer and poor getting poorer in INDIA…
i gree, but everywhere also same
I’m assuming that would eventually lower the price of the iPhones there, I’ve read they are VERY expensive in India and I know it’s not related but in Argentina they are even more expensive, it’s insane!
over all its cheaper to use an iphone in india than in the USA. there is am upfront u pay of like $700 to $900 depending on the model u get but then over a 2-3 year period we end up paying far less as telecom services are very cheap in India.
It’s nothing but corporate greed when you are asked to pay US$1110 for 64GB iPhone 6S. The same phone you are selling in USA for $749, + 6-8% sales tax.
Fyi, Samsung S6 Edge 64GB costs $750 in India.
no sir..it not quite like that. there are probably 2 reasons. $ has appreciated against indian rupees by about 8%. Plus there is 35% customs duty and 15% other taxes. this makes is really expensive.
You are 100% right,
Well the 6s outperforms Samsung s6 interms of sales, so maybe price is not a barrier. Apple is and always was a niche product market and that’s how it keeps profits and R&D high, it will never compete on bargain basement prices as it destroys the sales model and threatens profit and share price. Think Porsche, Chanel and the like, all high prices, all have some cachet all make big profits. You have to have some people wanting your product who cannot afford it, that’s what gives it cachet.
India is nothing but a hobby, the poverty there is dire, way worse than anything in S America. Sure there’s people there, but the country’s biggest export is people – thousands leave every day. I am sure most companies want a foot in the door, but India is notoriously corrupt, red tape laden and protective of local business – so likely why Croma signed up instead of an Apple Store…. India will never be much into manufacturing nor sales of high end product for at least another 50 years. They cannot even make sewerage and power work properly in their cities. All this talk from Modi on how great India is to cheering expats – but they all left for big reasons.
this itself show race, creed and culture. BTW similar developing, poor and corrupt country – China – is economically f***king U*A through all holes and so will india in few decades time.
u know all the steel from the world trade centers came to india to be recycled for the Freedom towers?
we arent a manufacturing powerhouse like china but we do have our strong points and our past governments never made india realize its potential. Modi is helping us do that by making world political and business tycoons see the possibility.
these figure are showing interest cause they are tired of china’s authoritarian government and its use the developed worlds dependencies onto itself in a political way. India cultural, economic and on an individual level, psychological, make up – has a promise for the developed world to get off the clutches of China.