Apple eyes brand boost in India with first official store

“With India’s overall GDP and growth story continuing, investing in retail will expand the business opportunity for Apple and improve the availability of products. It will help them in brand positioning,” said Rajesh Goenka, chief executive of RP Tech, a national distributor for electronics firms.

Further, Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research noted that opening more self-owned stores “will further strengthen Apple’s premium image and experience”. “With the new store, Apple will be able to control the end-to-end experience and purchase journey,” he said. To be sure, India has been among the fastest-growing markets for Apple in the past few quarters, even as demand has slumped in many of its traditional markets. Apple posted a 5% drop in revenue from a year earlier in the December quarter but posted double-digit growth in India, setting a quarterly revenue record for itself.

According to data from IDC, Apple is estimated to have shipped around 6.5 million iPhones in India in 2022, up from 4.8 million in 2021.

“Offline retail continues to be key in a large, diverse market like India, where consumers love to touch, feel and explore the products,” said Prabhu Ram, head of industry intelligence group at CyberMedia Research.

Ram added that Apple will try to replicate its “famed Apple retail experience” known for its consumer experience, staff expertise, and service standards, in India.

Navkendar Singh, associate vice president, IDC India, however, said the current retail partnerships will continue to drive volumes for Apple, and its own store will cannibalize some part of large format retail sales eventually. He added that “stock and variant availability” might be better in Apple Stores, just like its online store.

Currently, Apple sells its devices via partner retail stores such as Imagine and Future World as well as multi-brand small and large format stores. But despite growth in India, Apple still has about a 4% market share in the country, which means there’s room to grow.

RP Tech’s Goenka and Counterpoint’s Pathak noted that Apple’s current distribution partners are unlikely to be impacted by the company’s own stores, since its overall market in India is also expected to grow. “There is room for growth for all. Apple has 500 Stores across the world. It is not going to have 15-20 stores in Mumbai. They still have to cover the entire city and for that, they need premium resellers,” Pathak added.