Apple Betting Big on India With Plans for 500 Stores

AMG

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Apple is taking the old saying "go big or go home" to heart when it comes to its strategy for India.

The tech giant is planning to open 500 iOS-centric retail stores in the country in a major expansion into smaller Indian towns and cities, according to a report fromThe Times of India. The move will represent Apple's first major push into the fast-growing Indian phone market.

Apple "is finalizing plans to become a serious player in India, which is being seen as a strategic and one of the most promising markets globally," an unnamed source told the Times.

Cupertino's products are already popular in big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Chennai. Now the company is planning to push into smaller towns and cities like Amritsar, Pathankot, Moga, Coimbatore, Trichy, Nagpur, and Nasik.

At this point, the India push is not set in stone, however. Apple has "tentatively" approved the expansion, and is expected to give the final go-ahead "very soon," the report noted. Apple is said to be mulling a franchise model that may be overseen by Redington, one of its two distributors in the country.

"These new stores will be smaller in size and could range from 300 to 600 square feet against over 2,000-square-foot size of existing stores in bigger cities," the newspaper's source said.

For its fiscal year ending in September 2014, Apple sold around 1 million iPhones in India. The company expects to top 3 million units sold this year, the Timesreported. Apple has had a presence in India since 2011, currently operating through distributors Redington and Ingram, who supply the company's gadgets to regional sellers.


Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2473173,00.asp
 
hmm, according to single brand fdi in retail they can only open in million plus cities. How many are there ? just 54

so how can they open 500 stores ?

next, 30% of what they sell has to be locally sourced. What do they do.

it also makes me think that there are no apple stores to date in India because apple was not ready to open any (so far).
 
hmm, according to single brand fdi in retail they can only open in million plus cities. How many are there ? just 54

so how can they open 500 stores ?

You can open multiple stores in a single city. A city the size of Mumbai/Delhi can have 10-15 stores each...
 
Yep. An iPhone4 for 14K will kill everything else.
Because most of the people dont care about the specs anyways. All they need in a Phone is whatsapp and music player.[DOUBLEPOST=1418213801][/DOUBLEPOST]Yep. An iPhone4 for 14K will kill everything else.
Because most of the people dont care about the specs anyways. All they need in a Phone is whatsapp and music player.
 
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500 is unbelievable. I still belive, apple is a niche product line in India. Who is gonna buy? Can't imagine the IMAGINE stores running on local sales:p
 
IMHO, its a risky move, should they invest more on releasing more affordable products? Just another point of view
That would risk diluting their brand a bit. Apple is known for selling good products at overpriced rates, they will not want to change that image.
 
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