Jul. 9 – Apple Inc. will open the doors to its second retail outlet in China this Saturday with a flagship store in Shanghai’s Pudong district as the company embarks on an effort to raise its market presence in the country.
The new shop will be a successor to Beijing’s flagship outlet, which has been in operation since 2008, and will be the “launching pad” for 23 more Apple stores scheduled to open over the next two years.
“We are thrilled to open the first of many new stores in China in this incredible location,” said Ron Johnson, senior vice president of retail at Apple. “We view this store as a kind of launching pad.”
Located next to the Oriental Pearl Tower in the heart of Shanghai’s financial district, the new Apple store’s 40 foot cylindrical glass shell juts into the sky and closely resembles the company’s iconic flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The 1,500 square meter shop will have over 175 employees on staff, complete with the signature Genius Bar, and has over 250 Apple products on display that customers can experiment with, including over 100 Mac units.
Apple products like the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac computers are extremely popular in China, but most are bought on the grey and black markets due to the significant markup in China compared with places like Hong Kong and the United States.
Nevertheless, Apple resellers have remained profitable and the company hopes that its new direct-selling outlets will do the same.
