My first purchase at an Apple Store

I had made up my mind I was going to buy a new iPad and I am too impatient to order something online and wait for it to come when I can just hop in my car and go a few miles down the road to get it.   Well I decided to go to Best buy because I had a left over gift card from my Birthday to spend.  I went inside hopeful yet doubtful that they would have a 16 gig wifi version in stock.  After making my way through all the people and making my way to the iPad station I looked around for an employee to help me.  Now I want to first start off by saying that usually when I am in Best Buy a million employees ask me a thousand times if I need help when I usually am just there to browse.  I finally got ones attention and asked if they had any new iPad's in stock.  He said, "Ummm I'm not sure I'll have to find the guy who knows.  BRB."  About 15 minutes later another guy finally came up and I explained I was waiting to here if they had any new iPad's in stock.  His response was, "Oh I guess he forgot to tell you.  We don't have any and it will be really doubtful you will find one this early since release.  I said ok and left the store a little let down and decided to go where I should have gone to begin with.  I ventured across the road to our local mall and into the Apple Store there.
As always this store was super busy.  Even though there were an ocean of people dressed in blue Apple Logo shirts, everyone seemed to be busy with the hundred or so people that were in the store.  As I made my way to the iPad section a greeter came up to me and asked if I needed help.  I told him I was interested  in getting a new iPad.  He introduced himself, shook my hand, and asked what my name was.  He then stated that he would get a mobile specialist to help me out.  After he walked away I figured I was in for another long wait like I had at Best Buy.  Only to be surprised that he immediately walked back and introduced the guy that would help me out.

I was surprised by how quick he was to get back to me and was impressed by how the employee handled our conversation.  He acted as if he were my own personal shopper and focused on me the whole time.  I explained how I was looking for the new iPad and would like the 16 gig wifi version.  He simply asked me what color I would like.  I stated white if you have it.  He was holding an iPod touch with a special case around it (the case is a mobile credit card machine.)  He seemed to be taking notes as we were talking and pressing buttons on it.   Before I could ask if they actually had any in stock an inventory specialist walked up to my sales guy with a white new iPad.  He smiled and said yes I have one right here.  I was like awesome.  I would like to buy it and I think I want a smart cover as well.  As he was asking me a few more details I hadn't really payed attention that we were already standing in front of the accessory wall and he asked me what color I would like.  After I got the accessories I needed he gave me my total and I handed him my card right where we were standing.  He swiped the card and I signed the touch screen.  He then asked me if I would like an actual receipt or an emailed receipt.  He emailed me the receipt at the email address I provided and got me a bag for my purchase.  As he was going over a few more details we moved over to another counter that I had never really paid attention to before.  He was like Mark here will help you get your iPad set up and running before you leave the store and show you a few tricks to get you started using your purchase.  After thanking me for the purchase I started with Mark who asked me how familiar I was with the iPad and iOS I told him I was very familiar and could easily set up most of it myself.  So he decided to show me a few gesture tricks that I might not be used to and got my Apple ID and iCloud up and running before I left.

All in all I was amazed by the fluidness of the process.  This is one of the main reasons why Apple is one of the most valuable companies around and seems unstoppable.  Not only do they make amazing products and build up plenty of hype around them.  But just like how their devices are centered around the people who use them so is their retail experience.  Everything revolves around the customer and the experience that you have with them.  Apple has truly set up a winning system here.  Not only can they control every detail of your device and make sure that everything on it functions the way it is intended, even your shopping experience is researched and controlled down to every little detail.  I walked away from my first purchase at an Apple store thinking that I would always come here to purchase my Apple products from now on.  I can also say that I was not alone in this experience because as I was standing their waiting for my iPad to finish uploading my iCloud information I watched at least 8 others buying iPads right after me and I was probably only standing there about 5 minutes.