Apple announced on Monday that its current SVP of Retail Operations, John Browett, is "leaving the company." Browett was hired earlier this year to replace former retail chief Ron Johnson, who had been poached by JCPenney in 2011. Browett's hiring came with a fair bit of controversy, perhaps foreshadowing his eventual departure just seven months later.
The changes he introduced quickly infuriated employees and customers alike. Comment threads across the Internetâ€"including our ownâ€"exploded with vitriol.
"Layoffs were commonplace, and I can assure you, he was hatedâ€"passionatelyâ€"by many, many people I worked with. People who 'wanted' to help customers were told not to and disciplined when they did. I've both seen it with my own eyes and been on the sharp end of a bollocking for it," wrote one unhappy worker who had labored under Browett in the UK. "So, given that the man was well known for it, what particular brand of Really Good Shit was Apple smoking when it decided he was a shining example of good customer service? I'm not an Apple fan, but really? They thought this was going to raise profits or customer satisfaction/loyalty?"
To these people, Browett's eventual failure and firing were inevitableâ€"but what surprised some observers was that Browett managed to last as long as he did.
From "surly ignoramuses" to "Apple Geniuses"
Johnson left considerable shoes to fill, having largely been responsible for creating and executing Apple's retail strategy since 2000. The company's first stores opened in 2001; since then, Apple has opened more than 350 retail locations worldwide. Apple's retail stores were the fastest retail operation ever to reach $1 billion in revenues, and the company credits the ever-increasing number of visitors to its stores as a major factor in its overall growth, both in the PC market and with mobile devices.
Browett came to Apple from UK retail giant Dixons Retail. That company had claimed to have "become a bit customer obsessed lately," and Apple CEO Tim Cook cited Browett's supposed commitment to customer service as a top reason for his hire by Apple.
"Our retail stores are all about customer service, and John shares that commitment like no one else we've met," Cook said in a statement in January. "We are thrilled to have him join our team and bring his incredible retail experience to Apple."
However, readers on the other side of the pond who were familiar with the Dixons experience were flabbergasted with the news of Browett's appointment, describing the experience at Dixons' various storesâ€"especially the Curry's and PC World chainsâ€"as "shite" and the "absolute antithesis" of an Apple Store.
"If you want a dingy shop full of distracting, always-on demonstration units and staffed by surly ignoramuses who only want to sell you an extended warranty, then Dixons was the place to go," Phillip Storry, a systems administrator from London, told Ars earlier this year. "Which probably explains why Dixons has been having real troubles of lateâ€"consumers are now wise to them and shop elsewhere."
Ars Technica's own Peter Bright, a UK native, confirmed the many negative reports we received about Dixons' shops. "The staff is unhelpful, the prices absurd, and the store design is hideous," he said.
Stillâ€"perhaps the fault wasn't with Browett. Perhaps Cook had seen something others had not. Perhaps the critics were simply carping. Or perhaps not.
Profits and problems
The first hints that things weren't going well appeared in late summer. Browett had implemented a new formula to calculate the optimum staffing levels at Apple's stores, designed to lower costs and increase the retail division's profit margin. That new formulaâ€"which reportedly went against the advice of seasoned Apple retail executivesâ€"led to widespread layoffs and deep cuts in hours for most part-time employees, and it came just weeks before the launch of the iPhone 5. (Our own experience is that Apple Stores are actually at times understaffed for the mobs of people that seem to always fill them, especially in large urban areas like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.)
Apple apparently realized the problems with Browett's new staffing strategy, and in mid-August the company claimed it was going back to its old formula. "Making these changes was a mistake and the changes are being reversed," Apple spokesperson Kristin Huguet told Dow Jones at the time. "Our employees are our most important asset and the ones who provide the world-class service our customers deserve."
Despite the reversal, sources within Apple retail told ifoAppleStore, a blog that closely follows Apple retail operations, that Browett was intent on giving the company's stores a Dixons-style makeover. Part-time employees were limited to 10 hours per week, the minimum number needed to work in Apple retail, and employees that had been demoted as a result of Browett's "new staffing formula" were not restored to their previous positions. Space devoted to workshops and training sessions was trimmed or eliminated, and staff performance was increasingly measured by the ability to sell more accessories like cases, hard drives, and AirPort base stations. Even the cleaning budget was cut, the ifoAppleStore source said, leading to a "grimy and less attractive" store appearance in some areas.
These facts were later confirmed by our own source familiar with Apple's retail operations. "Work that's essential to keeping the place looking perfect isn't being done," our source said. "[Training] sessions get shorter and more crammed into the day. The satisfaction of the customers essentially drops."
A current Apple retail "expert" e-mailed Ars just two weeks ago, corroborating the numerous reports that the company's Apple Stores had suffered since Browett took over earlier this year.
"I was drawn to the job initially due to the cachet of working for Apple but stayed because of the company's amazing customer focus and the possibilities for upward mobility. The changes since Steve passed, Ron [Johnson] left, and Browett took over have been palpable," said the source, who still works for Apple and asked to remain anonymous. "Hopefully enough attention [is drawn] to the topic to make positive change, and hopefully it is not too late for course correction."
Browett's singular focus on the bottom line was in stark contrast to the basic strategy that Johnson had used to grow Apple retail, one championing customer experience over short-term profits. "As long as we hit what's known as 'demand,'" our source explained, referring to Browett's metrics, "it's all fine in the eyes of corporate."
But Johnson's strategy had paid off over for nearly a decade; Apple went from a retail laughingstock to a company generating more revenue per square footâ€"$5,626â€"than high-end stores like Tiffany's, Coach, and Ralph Lauren.
Browett gets Cooked
The grumbling went beyond a few unhappy sources within Apple retail. Tim Cook has apparently chosen to correct course now by letting Browett go, and Cook will personally oversee retail operations until Browett's replacement can be found.
Cook may not be quite as stubborn as Steve Jobs tended to be when it comes to admitting mistakes. Apple admitted it made a mistake when it pulled its products from EPEAT's green registry back in July, and Cook made a personal apology for the state of iOS 6's Maps in September. Both of these "course corrections" came relatively quickly.
Browett, however, was given several months after it became clear to those working in Apple retail, and even to outside observers, that his strategy wasn't working. Browett's tenure seemed especially long to one of our sources at a high level within Apple's retail division, and the source suspected that Jobs would have been quicker to hand Browett his pink slip.
"The last time someone embarrassed [Jobs], he got the chop," the source told us, referring to former SVP of Devices Hardware Engineering Mark Papermaster. Papermaster was believed to have been blamed for the iPhone 4's well-documented antenna issues.
"If Steve were around and saw what a clusterfuck Browett made of retail, and the image it was projected with, I've no doubt at all Steve would have sacked him on the spot," the source added.
The move may have been a difficult one to make, given that Browett was Cook's first major hire after taking the reins from Jobs last yearâ€"but Cook did it, apparently before any major damage was done to Apple's retail brand. Now Cook faces the unenviable task of making another high-profile hire to replace Browettâ€"and to show a watching world that this lapse in judgment was just a regrettable blip on an otherwise smooth trajectory.
Update: We originally described Browett's tenure at Apple as nine months long, which is the time from the announcement of his hire until the announcement of his firing. However, Browett assumed official SVP of Retail duties beginning in April 2012, just seven months prior. We updated the title as we felt it was more accurate.
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