In conversation with Meghna Singh, CEO of Aptronix about the launch of Telangana’s first Apple Premium Partner store in Hyderabad.Can you tell us more about your decision to launch the premium store in HyderabadWe have been Hyderabadi for two generations. We started in Hyderabad. The largest number of stores that we have are here. So, of course, Hyderabad is the first natural choice for us to open this new experience. And from now, it’s going to be expanded to a lot of different regions. And within Hyderabad as well, we are going to be bringing more and more stores of all different kinds of formats, depending on the catchment.What makes this new Apple Premium Partner store unique compared to your existing stores, and what benefits can customers expect from the premium format?We had an Apple store right here. Now, this has been upgraded to a newer format. With this format, what we’ve seen globally and even here in India is that when such a transformation happens, the flow and design of the store becomes much more organic, making it easier for consumers to navigate through the products and get more hands-on training. And what we’ve observed is that in these newer format stores, the footfall, conversion, and even the overall revenue goes up naturally—by almost 50%—with the same amount of marketing spend.The second thing is, these stores come with an inbuilt service center. Earlier, you’d buy a product from one place and then have to find a service center somewhere else in the city. Now, with these new stores, the service center is right there in the same space. So, you can just book an appointment at the store where you bought your product, get it serviced, and even pick it up from there.Also, Apple runs exclusive affordability programs and offers that are specific to these stores, which adds another level of benefit for consumers. And going forward, these are the kinds of stores that are going to be rolled out across India.Can you tell us about the current offers and discounts available at the Apple Premium Partner store?We have a very crazy offer right now. It’s a minimum 12% off flat. No T&Cs. That’s the minimum. So, whichever product you walk in to buy, you get at least 12% off, flat. But it gets even better on the top sellers and the hottest models. Like for the iPhone 16, I believe we’re running about 19% off. On the MacBook Air, we’re giving somewhere around 22 to 23% flat off. And that’s not all. On top of that, you can trade in your old phone. And on top of that again, you can even get a loan or opt for EMI—and that’s a no-cost EMI. So honestly, these are the best offers you’re going to see. The offer is valid only till May 25.What are your top-selling products, and what makes them so popular among customers?So, every year, the best sellers—the crowd favorites—in iPhones, obviously it’s the 16. Because the Pro Max goes to a very niche consumer. It’s a plus 1 lakh phone. So, the fan favorites in India are iPhones that are average priced, around 60–70,000. That’s the iPhone 16 right now.And then the MacBook Air, which is around 80–90,000. That’s another best seller. And there are very good bank cashbacks as well. So, those two—iPhone 16 and MacBook Air—are the best sellers right now.In terms of accessories, we do extremely well with insurance—Apple’s insurance. It’s called AppleCare Plus. So, when you buy a phone, you can buy AppleCare Plus with it, which is charged at a certain percentage of the phone’s value. And what happens with that is, if you damage your phone, if there’s any liquid damage, accidental damage—then you can get your phone serviced free of cost. Unlimited number of times.Now, Apple’s quality has really improved, so damage incidents are lesser nowadays. But still, if it happens, getting your phone repaired can cost like 20–30,000, which is a huge amount. So, with this, that cost is covered—and that makes it one of our best sellers too.What’s the cost of AppleCare Plus, and what accessories are popular with Apple customers?I would say it is about 7–8% of the product value. Around 7–8%. And this is for one year. It’s yearly. You can renew it at the end of one year if you want to continue. We also sell speakers, we sell an entire range of products for all your Apple devices—from AirPods cases to cables, you have watch bands. And the Apple Watch does very well. And we have a lot of different kinds of straps as well for the Apple Watch. We also do cases—camera lens covers. One thing I personally use a lot is a mobile back case which also acts as a stand. And it has space for my Aadhaar card, my bank card—so I can just leave the house with only this in hand.We have Marshall speakers, then you have got Instax accessories too—this is a camera that prints instant Polaroids, and you can shoot directly from your iPhone. So yeah, all these different kinds of accessories do really well.What’s next for Premium Lifestyle in terms of new categories and brand expansion?So, for Premium Lifestyle, the plan is that we are working with a lot more brands. We’ve entered F&B very recently—we’ve opened Cafe Delhi Heights. We are also opening a very premium store with Onitsuka Tiger. We’ve already opened one in Inorbit, and we’re opening another one in Calcutta.And now we are also getting into jewellery. Of course, all of this still falls under retail. We like to keep it very varied—because our brand is lifestyle and fashion. And that includes a lot of things. So, right from F&B to garment retail to electronics, we are bringing in a lot of new stuff.
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