Students will run the Apple Store at Creighton University this fall
There is always a lot of press about Apple. There are Apple stock forecasts, new product predictions and literally hundreds of stories about their stores. But, this is not a story about Apple's pitfalls or potential. Instead, it is a story that literally flew under the radar of most. And, I believe that foretells tremendous innovation potential to come. Apple is opening a new Apple Store on the Creighton University campus this fall. What is so unique about this store is that it will be actually run by the College of Business students. This is the kind of break through innovation that can make both Apple and Creighton University very successful.
Who knew that world class innovation is happening right in my backyard
For those of you that don't know me well, I was born, raised and continue to live in the "fly over" zone in the United States. The fly over zone is that huge middle part you fly over to get to the population centers on the coasts. I live in a state called Nebraska, and it is smack dab in the middle of the country. And yes, we have more cows in the state than people.
With more than a bit of local pride, I will also point out that we have some real innovation in this place called "the middle of nowhere". Omaha, Nebraska is the home to Warren Buffet, and 5 Fortune 500 companies. Not too shabby for a metro of just under one million people. But as a local who lives here, I completely missed an experiment in higher education taking place this fall in Nebraska. Apple is actually letting college students run one of their stores!
The biggest challenge of today's higher education is relevancy
Even just a couple of decades ago when I was an active University professor, students always complained about the "ivory tower syndrome". Most university classes teach principles and theory. The best try to include case studies. But as a former professor, I know first-hand that there are always time constraints and limitations for placing students into a field practicum.
Universities are not "technical schools" designed to teach a trade. Yet, the best professors find creative ways to make learning relevant to future career requirements. There are well established paradigms for some professions. Medical students have labs and residency requirements. Dental students work in actual dentistry clinics. Teachers actually teach in University pre-schools and public schools. What to business students do? Well, this fall Creighton College of Business students will apply for an opportunity to work in a campus store, learning how to apply business principles to running an Apple store. Sounds like a whole lot more fun and relevant than working in the college bookstore!
Creighton's iJay Store = Big Win for students and Apple
According a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, there will be an Apple manager to oversee the new campus store to be called iJay. There will also be some students paid to work on the floor selling products. But, here's the breakthrough and win for the students: The store will become a classroom on running a real business. There will be 30-60 students per year getting classroom credit for running the business, managing the inventory, and doing all those things required to run a successful retail business.
What does Apple get out of this? Certainly most of the labor will be "free". The HUGE win will be Apple's direct access to the thoughts and skills of their very best core customers! They will literally have a funded lab with the best and brightest business students clamoring for ways to show how they can bring new ideas to life. A business can simply not get that kind of innovation in a product lab, or any focus group. And the best part … its on-going … evolving … it will just get better and better over time.
Why Apple? Why do they always seem to be leading the way?
Why not Samsung, HP, or Microsoft? They all have stores or store-in-stores capabilities. How is it that Apple seems to lead the way in education and experimentation? And, here's the real kicker to this story – It's not just the one student run store at Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska. The Chronicle reports that Apple plans to open two dozen campus stores across the country. And wait … it gets better yet! Tim McMahon from Creighton proposed that their students should help come up with a business strategy for these stores on campus.
Perhaps, this Apple partnership with Universities to have students run campus stores should not be surprising. Apple has always seemed to understand that a prime road to future consumers is through education. Apple has a long history in sponsoring computers for schools, as well as discount programs for parent and teachers. What is so unique and telling about the Apple store on the Creighton campus, is the direct engagement of the students in the business itself. It epitomizes Apple's core approach of consumer centricity versus a focus on technology or products. Apple is about a lifestyle, and what better way to lead innovation than to involve students directly in the business.
Reasons why brands need to follow these college experiments
As I travel the world, I see brands investing billions in merchandising displays. If products somehow don't sell, then brands seem to want to rush in with new fixtures, tables and point of sale materials to better "tell their story" in order to "sell more products". If that doesn't work, they then try to "fix" the retail floor staff with training on how to sell more products. In short, brands are still operating under the assumption that consumers are going to stores to purchase products.
What major brands don't seem to realize is that there has been a seismic shift from product centric marketing to consumer centricity and lifestyle adoption. Here are just 3 perspectives on today's consumers' use of technology:
- With mobility its now an "app world" … not an operating system choice
- Mobile flexibility requires the "cloud" … not devices with bigger hard drives and RAM
- It has become all about an "ecosystem" of connecting the possibilities and lifestyle
Why has Apple had such a great run of success with their stores? They continue to innovate and focus on how consumers shop and adopt … NOT how they buy products. Next time you do a "fly over" of Nebraska and the heartland of the US, don't forget about those Apple experiments going on at Creighton University. What better way to engage the future and innovation for tomorrow's consumers than to let students create it today!
My hat goes off to Creighton's College of Business for their leadership in creating relevancy, and to Apple for continuing to innovate on how to engage both students and consumers in lifestyle experience.
The best way to predict the future is to create it. It is being created right now in the "Fly Over Zone".
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Sources:
- The Chronicle of Higher Education; At Creighton U.'s Apple Store, Students Will Run the Show, Cory Weinberg, July 18, 2013
- Apple Store Photo: Jordiferrer; WikiCommons
- Creighton Campus Photo: Bluejayschola; WikiCommons
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