Apple Stores:Relieving anxiety

since 2001Lauren Hedinger

&Christina Norair

We learned in class:

Boys like: • Competitive

games• Sports metaphors• War metaphors• Eye-hand

coordination• Light and sound

effects

Girls like: • Computers as

learning tools• Feedback• Emphasis on

words• Absence of…

That stuff

Women: - are great influencers in 50% of all consumer electronics purchase decisions

- are the primary personal computer users in 7.3 million U.S. households (25% of American home with PCs).

-Traditionally control the household budget

- Are primarily responsible for the after-hours education of children

Movement to target women in advertising: Compaq Computer Corp, Tandy Corp., Digital Equipment Corp. Packard-Bell Electronics Inc. and Apple Computer Inc.

More specifically and uniquely…Apple Stores!

•First Apple Store in McLean, VA in May, 2001

•105 stores nationwide

Software

photo

kids

theater

Mus

ic

Our Study:• Please help us with our Psych survey and answer the following:• Gender M F• Age: 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64

65 and above• How comfortable do you feel in the Apple store? • Very comfortable

VeryUncomfortable• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10• When you left your home, did you intend to come to the Apple Store? Y /N• Have you ever purchased an apple product (other than ipod)?• What do you use it for? • Business personal/entertainment• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10• If you have used both Macs and Pcs, how would you rate your preferences?• Mac indifferent PC• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10• Thank you for your time! Have a good day!

How Comfortable are you in the Apple Store?Scaled Preferences: 1(Very Comfortable) to 10

(very uncomfortable)

0

1

2

3

4

5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Scale

Women's Preferences (17 surveyed)

0

1

2

3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Scale

Men's Preferences (12 surveyed)

Women's Intentions

YES(10)

NO(7)

Men's Intentions

YES(6)

NO(6)

Aggregate Intentions

YES(19)

NO(13)

When you left your home, did you intend on coming to the Apple Store?

We went to both Apple vs. Comp USA…and ran into trouble with the “authorities”

- 10 min. in Apple Store: 32 women, 22 men

- 10 min. in Comp USA: 4 women, 14 men

How do you rate your preferences between Macs and PCs?1(strongly prefer Macs) to 10(strongly prefer PCs)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Women

Men

If You Own a Mac, What do you use it for? Scaled from 1(Business) to 10(Personal/Entertainment)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Scale 1-10

Male and FemaleMac Users

Do Apple Stores target women?

• Equally targets both sexes (unlike most other computer stores)

• Primarily for personal/entertainment usage

• Gender neutral environment: – Aesthetics– Location– Interactive

Environment

• Increased comfort with the product = decreased anxiety