As it celebrated 25 years of the products being available in the country, Apple finally opened its first retail outlets in India. With localised manufacturing already in place, here's why Apple can no longer not have official physical stores here
After a delay of two years, in the week that Apple celebrated 25 years of its products in India, the California-headquartered company finally opened its first-ever store in India on April 18.
Apple’s original plan to open physical stores in India was for 2021, but it was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Till now, customers in India purchased Apple products either online or from ‘premium resellers’ or third-party retailers, who had to acquire a licence from Apple to sell its devices. Apple launched its official online store in India in September 2020.
“There are about 90 Apple premium resellers in India, with 400 stores across the country,” adds Parikh, who claims to see a lot of customers who want to shift to iOS from Android. About 95 percent of smartphones in India run on Google’s Android platform, while iPhones remain an aspirational product in the price-conscious market. “We noticed that even after the launch of iPhone 14, more customers are preferring to buy iPhone 13. In our stores, most people buy the phones on no-cost EMIs; 60 to 70 percent of our sales are on EMIs at present. Plus, there are good cashback offers available,” Parikh says.
Prachir Singh, senior research analyst at Counterpoint Research, says, “2020 was a transition year for Apple. In 2019, it captured around one percent of market share in India, and we believe it will cross five percent this year. What we have seen from the consumer standpoint is Apple has always been an aspirational brand for Indian consumers. But the price point was an obstacle for people to upgrade their Apple devices. The company is working on various strategies to increase the affordability factor.”