Apple planning changes to Apple Stores and Genius Bar appointments

BY Jason

Published 27 Jul 2014

apple in store support

Apple is planing a number of changes to Apple Stores, including changes to how Genius Bar appointments are made, as well as training employees for a major new initiative.

Genius Bar Appointments

Presently, Genius Bar appointments are 10 minutes long, where customers can talk one-on-one with a Genius about a problem with an Apple product. The 10 minutes duration is fixed, and if you have problems with your iPhone and your Mac, you have to make two separate 10 minutes appointment.

This will however change very soon, and customers will be able to book an appointment with a time limit that is based on the number of problems they have. Some Apple Stores have already started training for this, and the change is expected to be rolled out on a small scale in the next few weeks.

Major New Initiative

Apple is reportedly also planning a major new Apple Store initiative to improve customer experience, the details of which aren’t yet known. 9to5Mac reports:

Sources say that Apple will be training its retail employees on a major new initiative between August 10th and August 28th. Genius Bar employees will be going through individual three hour training sessions, and sales staff members will each receive five hours of training over that roughly two-and-a-half weeks. One source thinks that the new initiative revolves around in-store iPhone activations, but that is uncertain.

Uniforms

Currently, US Apple Store employees have two different uniforms: The business team wears black shirts while other employees wear blue t-shirts. Apple will soon ask all employees to wear the same blue t-shirts, a change that has already been implemented in European stores.

These Apple Store changes come ahead of the upcoming holiday season, a time where Apple likely sees a huge growth in the number of store visitors. The move comes after Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s new retail chief, took charge and lead the implementation of a few changes.

[via 9to5Mac]