The Tata Group-owned Infiniti Retail, which operates the "Croma" chain of stores, plans to open 100 stores across India that will exclusively sell Apple products, according to the Economic Times.
Infiniti Retail is set to become an Apple franchisee partner and will open these 100 outlets that will be between 500-600 square feet each at malls, as well as high-street and neighborhood locations. These stores will exclusively sell Apple products by becoming Apple Authorized Reseller outlets.
According to the report, the new Apple Authorized Reseller outlets will be smaller than Apple Premium Reseller stores, which typically have an area of more than 1,000 square feet. The smaller stores will mainly sell iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, while the larger stores will offer the full range of Apple products, including MacBooks.
India has consistently been one of Apple's fastest-growing markets for the past few years, and the company's performance in the country has been particularly strong since the beginning of the pandemic as consumers have turned to its products to manage work and study from home.
In the September quarter, Apple's iPhone global revenue reached a record high of $42.6 billion, an increase of 10% compared to the same period the previous year. This growth was driven by strong sales of the new iPhone 14 series in India. According to CyberMedia Research (CMR), iPhone volume in India grew 44% in the July-September period, reaching over 1.7 million units.
In addition to ramping up its production capacity in India to meet the growing demand for its products in the local market, Apple also plans to export Indian-made products to global markets. This will enable the company to reduce its reliance on manufacturing hubs such as China and potentially avoid some of the supply chain disruptions that have affected its operations in the past.
Source: The Economic Times (paywall)
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