Apple Retail Stores - Key Factor in Record Q4 '09 Earnings

According to an ifoAppleStore report following Apple’s disclosure of FY 2009 Q4 results, the company’s retail establishments continue to stand tall in times of economic uncertainty. The stores, the source dealing exclusively with Apple retail topics says, “befuddle analysts and delight customers during the most most recent quarter, as the company announced new retail records.”

During Apple’s FY 09 Fourth Quarter Results Conference Call with analysts, the company’s CFO, Peter Oppenheimer, confirmed plans for the opening of a Louvre (Paris) store, as well as a high-profile Broadway (NYC) store sometime next month. Oppenheimer also disclosed plans for a second store opening in France during November, while no location was specified. So, why is Apple so heavily focused on retail stores?, some may ask.

Well, according to the same ifoAppleStore report...

...the number of visitors to the stores and average per-store revenues did not set any records. Instead, the company hosted 45.9 million visitors (46.7 million record in Q1 2009), and tallied $7.1 million average per-store revenues ($8.7 million record in Q1 2008) [...] The revenue figure for the retail stores was over seven percent higher that the previous high reached in Q1 2009, and Macintosh sales were over 12 percent better than its previous high achieved in Q4 2008 [...] The stores hosted 608,000 personal training sessions during the quarter, Oppenheimer said, and sold 208,000 One to One memberships [...] “About one-half” of all store Macintosh sales were to new-to-Mac customers, the same figure reported for the past two years.

From an international point of view, Oppenheimer confirmed that sales were up over 20 percent, which he described as “quite strong.” He cited very strong sales for Europe as well, noting that Spain was truly a “surprise,” with sales up 40 percent.

Also noted by Apple’s CFO was that 72 stores had been remodeled during the quarter, in an effort to improve customer experience. “As I look forward, we’re going to continue to confidently open retail stores,” Oppenheimer said, “and keep them fresh and exciting from a remodel perspective.”