Apple plans on launching brick-and-mortar stores in India soon, starts hiring workers to staff shops

Apple had earlier announced that their Indian division will soon open up official, brick-and-mortar stores in the country, latest by 2023. The Cupertino-based tech giant has now started hiring people to staff these stores, although they haven’t made any official announcement regarding their stores.

The company’s recent job listings show new openings for 12 retail roles at “various locations” throughout the country, including store leaders, senior managers, Genius Bar workers, and more.

The listings on Apple’s website and LinkedIn profile, show that there are vacancies, both full-time and part-time positions for the Apple Store. However, there are no indications as to the number of positions that were made available.

In 2022, The Economics Times broke the news that Apple was planning to open a 22,000-square-foot store in Mumbai at the beginning of 2023. Apple was also working on a 10,000 to 12,000-square-foot store in New Dehli, along with several other stores in the country.

Apple first made its online store available to customers in India in 2020, with CEO Tim Cook dropping hints that Apple would establish a physical presence, at a shareholder meeting around the same time. “I don’t want somebody else to run the brand for us,” Cook said, referring to the third-party retailers that currently sell iPhones to customers at brick-and-mortar stores in India.

Although Cook and Apple planned to open their first store in India back in 2021, these plans had to be pushed back mainly due to the pandemic.

Apple has been trying to establish their own retail lines in India for years now. For years, the tech giant has had to deal with authorised resellers and third-party sellers who would often hoard their most demanded products and sell them at a premium.

Furthermore, Apple is looking to expand its footprint in India, as it is bringing the production of key devices from China to India. Apple first started making iPhones in India in 2017 and shifted production of the iPhone 14 from China to India in the weeks following its release.

Apple has been trying to move away from China, not just because of political reasons, but to save costs and more importantly, keep production and supply chains running. Moreover, India has emerged as a massive, virtually untapped smartphone market for Apple.