Apple Store: The Secrets of Their Seduction

Did you know that they purposely tilt the screens to a certain degree, 70˚ to be precise, at the Apple store so you can see the screen yet not comfortably view it until you touch the product and adjust it for yourself? This is all done on purpose so you interact with the product.

"The point, explains Carmine Gallo, who is writing a book on the inside workings of the Apple Store, is to get people to touch the devices. "The main reason notebook computers screens are slightly angled is to encourage customers to adjust the screen to their ideal viewing angle," he says -- "in other words, to touch the computer."

A tactile experience with an Apple product begets loyalty to Apple products, the thinking goes -- which means that the store exists to imprint a brand impression on visitors even more than it exists to extract money from them. "The ownership experience is more important than a sale," Gallo notes. Which means that the store -- and every single detail creating the experience of it -- are optimized for customers' personal indulgence. Apple wants you to touch stuff, to play with it, to make it your own."

I fully believe in this multi-sensorial approach to retail. If you can get the consumer to touch, play and interact, you have captured their attention and they feel a sense of ownership. It's the fundamental basic idea of temptation, interaction, and then the desire of ownership. Next time you go to the Apple store, take note and watch the staff re-adjust each monitor after someone uses one. It's an amazing observation you will likely never forget to watch for each time you hang out at an Apple store. I did and now I can't help but to spot the re-adjusting to 70˚ angles. 

(via @alexismadrigal & Kottke & Forbes)