The ‘Apple Store’ is all set to debut in India, though not operated by Apple Inc. As per reports, they will be debuting in India in partnership with Tata-owned consumer electronics chain Croma, which will host Apple at six of its locations as a pilot.
The stores will be at Malad, Juhu, Oberoi Mall, Phoenix Mall and Ghatkopar in Mumbai and the Croma store in Bengaluru’s Jayanagar. The stores will start running before Diwali next month.
Though not an Apple store in the real sense, the design, furniture, fixtures and lighting will the same as that used in these stores globally and the sales staff will also be trained by the company. In India, Apple sells through premium resellers, who run exclusive brand stores under the franchise model, and also at multi brand mobile and consumer electronics retail chains.
Apple owns more than 460 stores — more than half of which are in the US — in 17 countries. The company has significantly increased its retail presence in India in the past year with five distributors — Redington, Ingram Micro, Rashi Peripherals, Brightstar and Optiemus group. Apple sold 1.7 million iPhones in India between October 2014 and September 2015, the company’s financial year, compared to 1.1 million units in the corresponding previous financial year.
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