Apple reboots retail experience, now with temperature checks and lines

Rachel Lerman

May 19, 2020

The Age

Apple’s retail stores are known for crowded areas of display devices ready for experimenting and the ability to make a purchase without needing to line up at a cash register.

But as the tech giant reopens around 100 of its retail stores globally, the customer experience is bound to feel different. Apple will be enforcing strict social distancing guidelines in its stores, Apple retail and HR chief Deirdre O’Brien wrote in a public letter. The company will cap the number of people allowed in to keep more than 1.5 metres between each customer, will require all staff and customers to wear masks and will check temperatures at the door.

All Australian Apple stores have re-opened (although Sydney George Street remains closed for renovations), with a note on the local Apple website warning customers long lines may occur while face masks are mandatory and can be provided.

Apple said it would be doing “enhanced deep cleanings” on all display products, as well as tables and other parts of the store.

The company has been one of the tech giants most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which hit Apple hard when it began spreading across China early this year and causing many manufacturing plants to close. Shortly after, Apple shut nearly all of its 510 retail stores across the world.

The company’s iPhone sales fell slightly during the first quarter of the year, an indication of how much coronavirus had shaken the company’s roots. CEO Tim Cook said production levels had returned to normal, but it is unclear whether Apple is on track to launch a new version of the phone later this year, as it usually does.

Big tech companies are expected to pull through the pandemic in decent economic shape overall, but Apple and Amazon have been dealing with physical effects more than others. Both companies have thousands of workers in warehouses and, in Apple’s case, in retail stores. Getting those people back to work in person has meant an exercise in implementing safety measures and navigating government regulations.

Apple’s reopenings are a boost for the company symbolically, said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, and also will help financially.

“The stores opening back up is a much needed shot in the arm for Cook and Cupertino,” he said.

It’s unclear exactly how the Apple shopping experience will change with the new measures in place, which eliminate some of the custom experience of shopping at the retailer. But Apple did say it will limit the number of staff each customer deals with.

In Berlin, tech worker Rouzbeh Abadi said he waited in line for about 20 minutes to get into an Apple store and check out the new iPad keyboard. Apple staff members asked him why he was there, then made sure he had a mask and used hand sanitizer before he started shopping, he said. An Apple staffer stayed with him the whole time he shopped to help out, and perhaps make sure he stayed a minimum distanced from others, Abadi said. The experience had a different feel from what he was used to.

“Before, I always went to Apple store to [browse], just because I enjoy it,” he said in a message. “But now, I think I won’t go there if I have no particular reason.”