Apple's new retail boss 'has her work cut out for her' in bringing the spark back to its 500 stores

Apple's head of retail Angela Ahrendts left the company in April and was replaced by Deirdre O'Brien, previously Apple's head of human resources.One former executive told Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman that O'Brien “has her work cut out for her.”Bloomberg reports that Apple's stores have become a growing concern for the company as customers complain of long lines, long wait times, and overcrowding. Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.Apple has a new head of retail, and employees are hoping she can bring its once-revered stores back to life. In a new Bloomberg report, former and current employees at Apple explained how the company's stores have suffered in recent years, pointing to changes implemented by Apple's former head of retail, Angela Ahrendts, which they said, were detrimental to the customer experience.Ahrendts' replacement, Deirdre O'Brien, who was previously Apple's head of human resources and has worked at the company for 30 years, recently stepped into the role and is prepping herself to take on this new challenge. She begins in earnest by opening Apple's latest store on 11 May, an ambitious renovation of Carnegie Library in Washington D.C.Former executives say she has her work cut out for her.Long lines and overcrowdingApple's stores were once heralded as the pinnacle of sophisticated and sleek shopping but increasingly, customers have complained of long lines, long wait times, and overcrowding. Former employees told Bloomberg that changes implemented under Ahrendts are partly to blame.Ahrendts, who previously hailed from Burberry, wanted to make the stores into luxury showrooms, eliminate lines, and create the feeling of a “Town Square” or places where customers could congregate.“We want you to meet people at Apple,” she said in 2016. “See what's happening.”To do so, she removed the Genius Bars and replaced these with Genius Groves, areas that were focused on repairs and assistance, which didn't involve lines. She removed checkouts and introduced a system where sales assistants would roam around the store armed with mobile devices for customers to make payments.Read more: Shoppers are complaining that Apple Stores have become a 'hell on earth' like the DMV — and it's a growing crisis for the tech giantOther employees told Bloomberg that the quality of employees, who now number 70,000 in total, also slipped.“Employees used to be very skilled,” one employee said. “When you came to Apple, you could walk in and talk to someone who happens to be a musician or videographer on the side, really knowledgeable. They hire really nice people now, but they are much less technical.”According to Bloomberg, sales associates would have had three weeks to a month of training in the past. Today, they have about a week.Apple was “trying to streamline things,” one employee told Bloomberg, “but in the process made things more difficult for some customers.”“It was a wholesale leadership takeover by fashion industry insiders and agency people who had no idea what they were doing with Apple,” one former executive told Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. “Most of the folks who knew better are long since gone. O'Brien has her work cut out for her.”Some employees are now speculating whether O'Brien will look to the past to rejuvenate its stores, reinstating the genius bar and splitting the store into sections, to promote each of Apple's services – Apple Music, Apple News+, for example.And some believe that she is in a good position to achieve success. “Deirdre has a deep understanding of the stores,” another former executive told Bloomberg. “She's just never been the face of them.” Business Insider contacted Apple for comment. The company declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg, while Ahrendts didn't respond to requests for comment.

Apple的零售业务负责人Angela Ahrendts于4月份离开公司，由苹果公司人力资源主管Deirdre O'Brien取代。一位前高管告诉Bloomberg记者Mark Gurman O'Brien“她的工作减少了”彭博社报道称，苹果公司的商店已经成为公司日益关注的问题，因为顾客抱怨排长队，等待时间过长，而且过度拥挤。访问BusinessInsider.com获取更多故事.Apple拥有一个新的零售主管，员工希望她能将其曾经受人尊敬的商店带回生活。在彭博社的一份新报告中，苹果的前任和现任员工解释了近几年该公司的商店遭受的影响，指出苹果公司前零售业务负责人安吉拉·阿伦茨（Angela Ahrendts）实施的变革，他们认为这些变化对客户体验不利.Ahrendts'替换，Deirdre O'Brien，曾担任Apple人力资源主管，并在该公司工作了30年，最近加入了这个角色，并准备迎接这一新的挑战。她于5月11日开设苹果公司最新商店，认真开始，对华盛顿的卡内基图书馆进行雄心勃勃的改造。前任高管表示，她的工作已经完成。长线和过度拥挤苹果的商店曾被誉为精致时尚购物的巅峰之作但是越来越多的客户抱怨排长队，等待时间过长以及过度拥挤。前雇员告诉Bloomberg，在Ahrendts下实施的变更部分归咎于此.Arerends以前受到Burberry的欢迎，他们希望将商店变成奢侈品陈列室，消除线条，营造“城市广场”的感觉或客户可以聚集的地方“我们希望你能见到Apple的人，”她在2016年说道。“看看发生了什么。”为此，她取消了Genius Bars并将其替换为Genius Groves，这些领域专注于维修和协助，涉及线路。她取消了结账并引入了一个销售助理可以使用的系统在商店周围配备了移动设备，供客户付款。阅读更多：购物者抱怨苹果商店已经成为像DMV一样的“地狱” - 这对科技巨头来说是一个日益严重的危机其他员工告诉彭博社质量一名员工表示，现在总数达到70,000人的员工也下滑了。“员工过去非常熟练。” “当你来到苹果公司时，你可以走进去与那些恰好是音乐家或摄像师的人交谈，他们真的很有见识。他们现在雇佣的人很好，但他们的技术要差得多。”据彭博社报道，销售情况员工过去将有三个星期到一个月的培训。今天，他们大约有一个星期。苹果公司“试图简化事情，”一名员工告诉彭博社，“但在这个过程中，一些客户的事情变得更加困难。”“这是时尚界内部人士和机构人员的批发领导层收购他们不知道他们在与苹果公司做了什么，”一位前高管告诉彭博社记者马克古尔曼。 “大多数知道更好的人早已离去。奥布莱恩为她做了工作。”一些员工现在正在猜测奥布莱恩是否会回顾过去使其商店恢复活力，重新恢复天才吧和分裂该商店分为几个部分，以推广Apple的每项服务 - 例如Apple Music，Apple News +。而且有些人认为她处于有利位置以取得成功。 “迪尔德丽对这些商店有着深刻的了解，”另一名前高管告诉彭博社。 “她从来没有成为他们的面孔。” Business Insider联系Apple以征求意见。彭博联系时该公司拒绝发表评论，而Ahrendts没有回复评论请求。