What the Apple Store Can Teach Retail Bankers
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Today's guests helped create one of the most admired retail experiences in the world. Ron Johnson worked with Steve Jobs to launch the Apple store, helped develop ideas like the Genius Bar, and showed that a physical store could be much more than a place to complete a transaction. It could actually be a place where advice, trust, and humans connect together. That idea probably matters more for banking right now than ever before. For. As AI, mobile apps, and digital service handles more of the routine work, banks are being forced to ask a bigger question. What is the branch really for? So today Ron joins us to talk about Apple, Steve Jobs, AI, the human experience, and what retail bankers can learn from one of the most important store concepts ever created.
So Ron, so good to have you on the store. I'm glad you can join us. Yeah, it's my pleasure. Uh, look forward to the conversation. So let's start from the beginning. Uh, when you and Steve Jobs created the Apple Store. What problem were you really trying to solve beyond selling products?
That's a really good question. You know, when we launched the Apple store it was two thousand. Right. And interestingly, back then we were living in an analog world. Only half the people in the country had used used a personal computer or owned one. If you used it it was mainly for work. Ninety percent of all photos were taken on film cameras in two thousand. We listen to our music with C Ds. And the biggest problem people had with technology was the fear. That they wouldn't know how to use it. And they had to see the benefit, but they really didn't think they could overcome. They could figure out how to use something as complicated as a personal computer. And even after all those years of Apple Trumpeting ease of use.
You know, the ease of a Mac. You know, one, two, three year on the internet. People didn't believe that. People didn't feel that way. And so the real problem we had to solve was overcoming people's fear of technology. And to create a place where they felt if they made the m move to buy a Mac. Because all we had were Macs at the start. That the store would stand behind and hold their hand. And make sure they got to the other side where they could really use this thing to enrich their life.
So You know, you've worked at Target, you worked at Apple, you worked at JCPenney, you were in charge of JCPenney. You know, looking across all those three organizations. What do harder chapters teach people that the winds never could? What what we see in each of these that really are a good takeaway for let's say the banking industry is we struggle truly trying to continually define what should the delivery network be and how does it work with the human aspect?
That's great. Well The reality is if you're gonna win in business, whether it's banking Or technology or anything. You're gonna have to know how to innovate. And innovation is not improvement. And that's one of the big lessons I learned at Target. At Apple and I knew it going into Apple. was that so many people would take an idea that they saw somewhere else Apply it to their situation and And call that innovation. And all that really is is mere improvement. When you copy something and bring it to you, that's a good thing to do. You should always be trying to get better. You should pay attention to your competitors. But that's not going to change the game. The only question then is do I innovate or do I improve as fast as my competitors?
But when you innovate, by definitions that's the do something that nobody's ever done before. Innovation comes out of your imagination. Но евритинь висі на фізиково. Someone had to imagine it first. Right. Well once you start to go to do things that people have never seen before. You you run into this thing that big organizations have in in in large ways is skepticism. And that's the biggest thing to overcome is skepticism for new ideas. You know, I found that a target.
What problem were you trying to solve when you created the first Apple Store?
You know, people didn't understand. Why are we gonna you know when I was at Target, we were in a big battle with Walmart.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:11–4:40
2
What problem were you trying to solve when you created the first Apple Store?
4:40–17:27
3
How did you overcome skepticism inside large organizations like Target and Apple?
17:27–34:44
4
Why is building trust one experience at a time essential for banks?
34:44–47:46