Apple to increase its presence by 3 times in India by 2015!
The Apple is planning to grow big in India. The company now believes that India is very critical to its future growth plans.
According to the India Times, Apple is planning to triple the number of “exclusive stores” in the country by 2015. The India Times’ sources, who currently run some of Apple’s exclusive stores, say that the iPad maker will have around 200 of those locations around India by 2015.
Apple works through 17 franchisees, which sell its products across India via exclusive stores. It is also planning to sell products through what are called the “Big Box retailers”. Using the franchisees adds cost to its operations and distribution, but it has no other alternative due to Indian laws for foreign retailers.
Chief among the issues could be India’s law that requires all foreign retailers to source 30 percent of their product sales from local companies. In other words, 30 percent of the products sold in Apple’s own stores must have come from an Indian partner. For a company that relies on China-based companies like Foxconn to produce its devices, that’s a problem.
That sucks for Apple, but is probably a great earning opportunity for the local businessmen.
