Apple iPhone Day One: Ritual, Rage and EMI

On 18 September.2026, the iPhone 18 was launched world over in multiple variants and colours. In select global markets, Apple’s first foldable iPhone model, termed the Duo was also launched, with only pre-orders available in the Indian market. 

Apple Watch Series 12 and the Ultra 4, along with Airpods 5 were also launched. 

Tim Cook, outgoing CEO of Apple shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) terming the event as “Happy Availability Day”. Part humour, part jubilation. 

Back in India, there is a video doing the rounds. A man stood outside a store for over ten hours.  When cameras caught up with him, he admitted — cheerfully — that he had no idea what the iPhone 18 Pro's key features were.

He just wanted to be first. That, right there, is the story of modern consumer desire in an unrehearsed exchange.

Buying an iPhone on Day One is no longer about the handset. 

It hasn't been for a while now. Social currency. Hysteria. A near-sacred annual ritual for a growing tribe. The purchase is almost incidental. The act of possession is everything. 

Let me profile who they are, because it gets genuinely interesting for anyone watching the sector.

At the top of the pyramid sits the elite tier — corporate boardroom executives, business owners, and children of wealthy families. 

They walk in during the opening three days. Quietly. No queues, no spotlight.  

The iPhone is an extension of who they are, not a celebration of it.

Then comes the aficionado — the dedicated Apple loyalist. They have been tracking the regular release schedule for months, studied every teardown, watched each hands-on review. 

They show up at launch because they actually want what is new. They are fewer in number than we think.

The largest and truly fascinating segment, however, is the EMI buyer. Young Millennials earning up to INR 12 lakhs a year.

Content creators — in front of and behind the camera. People whose entire digital life runs through a single screen because they own neither a laptop nor a tablet. 

For them, the iPhone is not a device. It is identity. 

Banks have grasped this beautifully — structured EMIs keep monthly outflows around INR 4,000, making perpetual renewals feel painless. 

Buy, pay, upgrade, repeat. The loop never breaks, and nobody is complaining.

And then there is colour — Apple's greatly underrated weapon. 

Under Steve Jobs, the palette was binary: black or white. 

Tim Cook steadily expanded it — Slate, Space Grey, Gold with the iPhone 5S in 2013, succeeded by the iconic Product Red. Today, 

Apple's range reads like a Holi poster — deliberate, festive, deeply aspirational. The iPhone 17 Pro's Orange turned into a peer contagion — one person posted, ten followed. 

The iPhone 18 Pro's Burgundy is more considered — a quiet declaration. When you carry any of these rare finishes, you announce your arrival before you say a word.

The celebrity layer adds its own dimension.  

Film stars sharing unboxing reels on Instagram are not being spontaneous — they are reinforcing the fantasy for millions of followers.  

The iPhone 18 Pro is already all over feeds before the majority have even laid hands on it.

Here is what retail teaches you: what is seen is what is perceived. 

Nobody knows which AirPods you are wearing. But everyone notices which iPhone you are holding — and increasingly, which shade. 

That is the difference between a product and a symbol. Apple has been selling the latter for a very long time now.

Convenience over Experience or Vice versa?

At last count, the quick commerce players such as Blinkit by Zomato, Zepto and Big Basket are said to have delivered over 1,000 units of the newly launched iPhone 16 series. In contrast, a single Apple Authorised Reseller (AAR) store – the exclusive Apple franchises across India sold over 150 units a day on 20 Sep. 2024 when the iPhone 16 was launched.

The staff at one of the stores told me Sat. 21 Sep. that the sales was bit dull being the second day while he was confident of selling over 200 pieces on Sunday, as he expects a lot more customers to drop by at the store. There are an estimated 3,000+ AAR in India, though all are not equal in footfalls and revenues. 

During my 40-min hang out at the store, there were at least 30+ Apple aficionados at the store (along with yours’ truly!). I spotted a few kids in their early teens with their parents exploring the new launch of iPhone, Apple Watch among the iPad and iMac. 

Two elderly couples, possibly in their 60s came to have a curious look at the range of Apple products. They seem to have come with an intention to buy, I could make out. 

 

The typical fanboys and fangirls were engaged in a thorough dissection of the various features of the device even as the store staff struggled to answer many of their tech queries.

 

There is a charm in offline retail, after all, I reckoned.

Last week, Hari Menon, Founder & CEO of Big Basket, which was launched in 2012 and sold off to the TATA Group in 2021 said at an event that local shops (read Kiranas) were not under the threat of Q-Commerce. 

Incidentally, Big Basket launched its quick commerce service with the iPhone 16 – an order places at 0800 hrs was delivered at 0807 hrs on 20 Sep.

 

Despite the convenience of doorstep delivery of groceries and household items, pet food, fresh food and everything in between over the last few months, electronic items too, why do people still step out of their homes and shop at offline stores – to buy the iconic Apple devices or Apple, the fruit?

As the adage goes, humans are social animals and need company. They need to simply step out of their physical bondages (read: comfort zone) to get a peak at what’s happening around them and around the world.

 

Take the film industry’s conundrum, for example. When the OTT model of watching and consuming entertainment took shape during and after the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, visitation to cinema theatres was declared a no-hope zone. Yet, movies are raking in crores of box office collections – the only catch, audience want crisp scripts and not just stellar star cast.

Even though foodtech players like Swiggy and Zomato are minting in billions of dollars annually, offline visits to restaurants has not dwindled. 

For most restaurants, their delivery channel through foodtech is between 15-20%, and consumers continue to visit their premises just like before 2020.

 

Quick Commerce brings in tremendous convenience for consumers while E-Commerce offers a massive range to shoppers, as they can sift through thousands of products before they buy. 

However, what amount of dent it would create to offline and neighbourhood shops is yet to be seen. “Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost”, as Shah Rukh Khan would say with a grin.

Buying Cars Online is Passe

After coming back home from the Voting Booth, I was sipping my 3^rd cup of coffee watching breakfast news on Tv. I showed my kids and wife, meanwhile two AVs of Tata Safari, the one which was produced in the late 1990s and the one produced this year. They were pretty impressed than I thought, honesty. Then I showed a Youtube Review of the vehicle. Though the reviewer spoke in Hindi, which kids do not understand exactly, he showed the features of the vehicle one after the other and having spent all their life in a single 4-W model, that is our beloved XUV500, they were mighty impressed with the newness that the Safari bought to experience. And mind you, all this even as we were watching a review of the model on a SmartTv. 

One day in 2012, my wife and I went around looking for an upgrade to our Hyundai Verna. Having shifted to Chennai from Bangalore and with both our parents around here, we thought a slightly larger vehicle (read: 7 seater) would be useful for long drives. We saw a few models but took test drive of just one, which was for a distance of 4 kms. After we got back in to our Verna, my wife quipped – either we buy the XUV500 or just continue with the Verna. Nothing else. My second daughter was 9 months old then. A week later, we were on our maiden trip to our Family Temple in a brand new XUV. After 66 months, sold the manual model and bought an automatic – everything else inside the cabin remaining the same but for the gear shift. 

During the lockdown period in 2020, I felt it made no sense to own the “White Elephant” anymore – a Ship is not built to be docked, after all. Thanks to a few good friends and fellow auto- enthusiasts, I refrained. Boy, I ain’t complaining. Have driven almost 18,000 kms in my XUV since Aug. 2020 when I kicked off my road trips, especially on the work front to meet my Colleagues, Distributors (of Levista Coffee) and to see first-hand the Retail Experience. Now that I am driving so much, I have a deep urge to move to another model, what with the same cabin, interiors and features in both models of XUV500 since 2012. 

I never imagined that a YouTube video would impress the secondary decision makers, rather – the Influencers – in the household while making a beloved purchase such as owning an automobile. Test Drives are an important touch-point in selling 4-W. In fact, one of the biggest reasons for success of Royal Enfield, where I worked from 2012 onwards and set-up 160 Dealerships pan-India was that the company allowed patrons and prospective customers to take the vehicle for a test ride. And alongside, offered experiential rides over weekends, special commemorative days, etc. This, worked well for the brand. When a user uses a product first hand – something that Apple first debuted in the Electronics space 2 decades back – the experience cannot be replaced by older means such as reading reviews or word of mouth from other users. 

Over the past few years, online shopping of Automobiles made some noise. In fact, I bought, rather booked my XUV500 in 2018 online for a token sum of Rs. 5,000 for which the Parent company gave me accessories worth the same value as a token of shopping online. Today, things have changed. It’s all about the experience. While family members may not give much heed to what’s beneath the hood, what matters most are the features, comfort and safety. My elder kid exclaimed when she noticed there were 6 USB ports in the new Tata Safari – something that’s perennially important for the Millennial Kids, perhaps. Wife was all excited about the Captain seats in the second row too, which gives great comfort, The very fact that a review (which is not at a showroom but in the living room) can entice potential customers, is in my humble opinion, a tip of the iceberg. The new “influencers” of buying behaviour want everything in their palmtops. Are companies listening? What’s the next big thing that could happen in this space? Virtual Reality, perhaps? Like driving inside the cockpit… Well, the day is not too far, I reckon. And of course, the charm of trials – can never be taken off ever.

WFH – Boon to Retailers & Brands

Many companies have advised their employees to plan WFH until end of this Calendar year. This means a good / happy news as well as a significant job loss for millions. That more people will lose lives and livelihood for the grave mistakes of themselves and the Governments across the world is a reality that we are staring at. However, the eternal optimist that I am, I can already see green shoots in certain segments of the consumer business. Some of you may recall that during my Webinar sessions in the months of April & May, I had referred to certain categories which is only bound to increase if not at least sustain its current business opportunity. Most of the daily household items have seen consistent growth even during the extended lockdown while Food related FMCG have shown tremendous growth. Categories such as Coffee, Tea, Sugar, Flours & Pulses have seen a spurt in sales for many brands while Retailers, albeit with a shortened operating time than before, are not complaining, thanks to consistent footfalls and increased bill values. 

However, what has taken many Retailers, Distributors and the entire supply chain by surprise is the huge surge in work-furniture for home and Electronics + Consumer Durables. We ourselves went shopping last week only to find that Godrej Interiors had completely run out of stock for 4 weeks, Home Town had absolutely no sight of when stocks would be replenished, over 40 customers merely waiting to enter Home Stop and hitherto B2B players such as Featherlite living up to the unprecedented opportunity and serving customers with their backend capabilities being spruced up. Traditional Furniture Retailers are not lagging behind either. Actually, I see many of the neighborhood shops doing brisk business with the highest demand for compact desktop / laptop chairs under Rs. 4,000 a piece followed by chairs that suit or double up for other purposes. I have also been hearing a few of my Architect-friends getting calls from their Business Clients to set-up / renovate their homes to be able to work. 

The other category which has been doing extremely brisk business is Cosnumer Durables, Home appliances and personal electronics. While Amazon & Flipkart haven’t resumed their deliveries fully across geographies, consumers are literally seen shuttling from one shop to another for want of peripherals such as computer mouse, headphones, Mobile Phones with 4GB RAM (to be able to take up Apps such as Skype & Zoom) under sub-Rs. 10,000 and most importantly, Laptops. I guess desktops as a category is passé – one, it occupies too much space and it’s immobile within the house as well as across users, which gives a push for laptops. 

In my own personal case, I had to wait for over 6 weeks to get myself a new MacBook Air, an upgrade after using the previous Air for 5 years. Thanks to good friends, I was able to lay my hands on one out of the two pieces that landed in Chennai after the recent lockdown. The folks at Apple India as well as Apple Retailers say with a grin that most models of MacBook / iPad are out of stock and there is no immediate visibility of their arrival into the stores.

With the State Governments finally budging for schools to conduct Online classes – the High Court of Tamil Nadu has especially allowed private Schools to collect 40% of the Annual Tuition Fee for the present academic year – Online Classes are getting more and more real. The state run “Kalvi Tv” in TN shall also showcase online lessons while every other State Government is looking at similar measures to ensure continuity of education. This further means more requirement of laptops, earphones and so on. That there is no shortage of Electricity at urban and semi-urban homes is a big advantage.

Smart Entrepreneurs, Individuals and Businesses have lapped up this opportunity. A second-degree associate of mine who was retrenched by his employer, a Hardware Engineer with 10+ years of experience has taken up direct sale of Laptops to Corporates making a neat 4-5% commission on the purchase value. He claims his income, although a temporary one is lesser than what he used to make in his previous job while he reconciles that he is unsure how long this would go on – his parallel entrepreneurship and the Corona lockdown. Whichever way, make hay while the sun shines is the way forward I guess. 

Meanwhile, traditional retailers in both these categories are indeed an aggrieved lot. For Example, the Founder of a family business which is in to Electronics for the past 2 decades has been adamant on downsizing his margins for want of volumes. He claims that this one-off discounting model on gadgets such as Iron boxes, Personal Shaving Equipment (for men) and other household items such as mixer grinders and refrigerators will hurt the business once the challenges are over, especially around Deepavali 2020. What he doesn’t realize is whether he would be operational until then, running 20+ stores across the state, employing over 300 people and a joint family of 4 siblings and their wards. 

In another instance, a proprietary furniture dealer near my home refused to entertain any sort of reduction on Chairs claiming that these items were already on high demand and that he sees no reasons why they should be sold at lower prices. That there are literally 100s of furniture shops around is something the gentleman should realize soon. Maybe, he wouldn’t. 

I am actually planning to write a book which would go by the name “Corona Millionaires” which could be release in 24 months or so. No, I am not referring to the likes of billionaire Shri. Mukesh Ambani and his ilk. I am referring to common people like you and me – who found this crisis as the biggest business opportunity of their lives. May be a Netflix original too. It could rake in more money than what many Entrepreneurs would make during this crisis.

Luxury Retailing - Retail 2020 (Article #3)

I started my career in Retail in 1997 scooping ice-cream at Baskin Robbins’ second outlet in India and first in Chennai (then, Madras). As the current decade comes to an end and an exciting one unfolds, I am writing a series of 20 articles over 20 days (10 in Dec ’19 starting 22/12 and 10 in Jan ’20) on the various Retail developments I have personally witnessed since 2001 onwards. Today, I have written about the Luxury Retailing Industry which is pegged at US $ 1.3 Trillion globally and growing at a CAGR of 12%.

Many years before when I was responsible for setting up India’s first ever retail arena at India’s first private airport at Bangalore in 2006, I had a special focus on creating a luxury retail zone. When I approached global brands like Apple, GAP, Omega and many others in India and abroad, they didn’t evince much interest. For India was not even a budding Luxury market then. Mont Blanc writing instruments, which is among the Top Brands sold across Airports worldwide didn’t have a presence in India at the time with a standalone store and we were keen to bring them on board at the Airport with an exclusive store, but the principals politely declined the offer. I have a long list of such disappointments from my tenure at BIAL. 

Today, things are different. The global luxury market is pegged at US $1.3 Trillion annually (including services such as Travel, Resorts and Hospitality) and India alone has an estimated market size of $6 billion growing at 9% CAGR since 2012 – across various categories ranging from Watches to Clothes, Automobiles to Cigars, Wines to Writing Instruments and so on. Incidentally, the Luxury Market size of China is pegged at $25 Billion and growing twice as fast as that of India. USA remains the largest contributor to global luxury retailing at over US $85 billion followed by Europe at an estimated US $65 billion. 

Much of the luxury consumption in India is attributed to two budding customer segments – HNIs and their families living in Tier 2/3 markets and HENRYs – High Earning Not Rich Yet Individuals. Apart from these, the core segment remains eminent business families, celebrities in Sports and Arts and professionals in Industries such as Banking, Manufacturing, etc. to name a few. A “Titan Watch” and a “Raymond” Suit were the preferred gifts for the bride and groom at most middleclass households (including yours truly) two decade back. But things are much different today. Most Indians who consume luxury brands neither have an idea why the brand is luxury (rather, priced so high) nor do they appreciate the craftsmanship of the product. As the saying goes – Aim for the sky and you would end up at the roof, I was eyeing a Patek Phillippe for over 3 years but finally ended up with a Longines Limited Edition a decade ago (which happens to be my last luxury catch @ Rs. 1.40 lakhs then!). It was a lot of hard-earned money coupled with dreams and ambitions built over time (Miles2Go). But when I see the GenZ & Millenials sporting luxury brands today, be it a shoulder bag from Prada or a pair of sneakers from Nike meant for trained athletes, they do not appreciate the purpose of the luxurious product beyond the “badge value” it adds to their self-esteem and prestige. 

Same is the case with electronic products, especially from brands like Apple or Bang & Olufsen. Apple fanboys (and fangirls) stand in Q all night to buy their coveted new launches since they mostly appreciate the features the product offers. Unlike in India, where the latest iPhone is more a symbol of prestige in the society and the associated benefits (like getting a table faster at a restaurant – I am not kidding!). While brands like Bose remained “luxury” and niche until a few years ago in India, thanks to deep discounting and presence on e-commerce websites, they are now competing with local and Chinese imports in their respective categories. 

Having said that, Luxury Retailing in India is still in its infancy. Even if the market grows at 10% CAGR for the next five years, we would still be less than 5-8% of the global market. No wonder Indian discerning consumers prefer to make a trip to Singapore or Dubai to shop for clothes and watches every few months. That they fly Business Class and stay at Mandarin Oriental or The Palms Jumeira is adding up to the global market size anyway.

Self-Checkout or Assisted

Earlier, I wrote in my article for The Economic Times about how Self-Checkout or even an assisted one would make a cut in the Indian scenario even as Indians are embracing E-Commerce like no other and the Indian E-Commerce business is expected to cross over USD 50 Billion by 2025 by various estimates. Meanwhile, the Retail Industry in India is pegged at USD 500 Billion with just about 10% being Organised or even semi-Organised (meaning those shopkeepers who use some form of PoS for Billing & Accounting). Almost half of the semi-organised Retailers do not have an end to-end PoS solution and this is the latest trending opportunity in the realm of Retail Entrepreneurship with a number of existing players upping their ante while a whole lot of new technology is being tested and introduced by new Start-Ups. Interesting days ahead indeed.

Meanwhile, I visited the Apple Store on Orchard Road at Singapore during my recent vacation to the Country. It’s been 11 years since I travelled abroad and was yearning to see the Temple of Technology to seek the blessings of the Almighty Apple (sic). I have owned every Apple product ever made by the Company in it’s recent history, starting from the iconic iPod in 2007, iPhone (several of them!), iPad (two of them), MacBook, Apple Tv, Apple Watch and Airpods. I felt like a little kid inside Disneyland when I entered the Apple Store, that I was walking all along the counters and seeing the whole retail theatre with glee.  I wanted to interact with the staff and hence gave a request for a query on iCloud Management. I was given an appointment and was asked to wait for about 40 mins which I agreed with utter happiness so I can spend time there seeing how Apple consumers interact with the Apple Store. On the first floor was the Genius Groove – apparently the Genius Bar has now become a fledgling hub where atleast 100+ customers & staff can be seen seated together and interact on various service issues. I picked up my iPad and started browsing with the free internet provided by the Apple Store – a whopping 110 mbps even as so many of them were sharing the same internet. Finally, my turn came and I was assisted ably by Justin who clarified some basic as well as a few complicated queries on iCloud. He was extremely polite and knowledgeable and sent me back happy. 

I returned a day later to buy the new iPod which was launched on Thursday 30^thMay 2019. I saw about it on their website and ended up at the store to pick it up. The staff themselves were surprised that it was ready for Sales! I placed an order on the mobile PoS which the staff had where I was allowed to browse the options, colours, etc. I placed the order and waited for 10 minutes by when another Apple Staff brought the product and handed over to his colleague. She placed my order on the same handheld PoS and my transaction was completed in less than 2 minutes. I was pretty excited doing this transaction and saw first hand how Omni-Channel Retail actually works. While I have seen similar technology being made available at a few Indian Retail Stores (Croma, For Example), the seamlessness and the convenience was fantastic from a user experience. 

There are atleast 20,000 companies, small medium or bigger who make PoS solutions including market leaders like GoFrugal, Wondersoft, Pathfinder, etc. to name a few. The solutions are priced from a one-time payment for as low as Rs. 10,000, SaaS models with recurring payments, enterprise solutions and so on. At my own Start-Up “Smiling Baby” – a chain of baby care stores, we signed up GoFrugal Technology’s eponomous “RayMedi” software which is now christened “RPoS” and have invested heavily 2 years backwith a module to manage Inventory across our multiple franchise stores including product management, adding inventory, live stock status and much more. With two running stores and two more in the pipeline, we have put the software to great use although we are yet to unlock so many hidden features including the omni-channel option where in we can rotate stocks across stores based on user requirements. Also, there is an option to connect the software with a mobile App, so Consumers can actually check which product is available at which store and accordingly, they can place orders online for a home delivery or a store pick-up. And this, for a small Start-Up like ours which is certainly not heavy on piled up cash investments. 

Omni-Channel offers a great opportunity for SME Retailers as much as the established ones. Time to make the most of it now.

My i Vs. Mi Experiences

I purchased my Mobile SIM card for the first time in the year 2002 in Chennai from Aircel and that number is still active. My my first handset was an Ericsson followed by Samsung R220, the first mobile phone launched in India with a multi-colour display. This was followed by a few Nokia models over a decade and a Sony Ericsson P1i before I finally moved to Blackberry. A few models and 4 years later, I moved on to the Apple Ecosystem with iPhone 4S in 2011. I upgraded to 5S, 6 and 7 over the years as well as including other i-Devices such as 3 generations of iPod, 2 variants of iPads, a MacBook, Apple Tv and finally an iWatch. With a paid plan for Apple Music and a huge storage on iCloud, I don’t have to worry about my stuff on the hard disk anymore, for its all safe and secure, “Up in the Air”. Hopefully. With a seamless integration within the iOS, it is almost impossible for me to move out of the Apple Ecosystem anymore and I guess I will remain clued in here. however, when the announcements for new models of iPhone XS & XS Max were announced last month, I had less interest than last year for the iPhone 8 & X. Somehow I felt that Apple has stopped making mobile phones for common users and is perhaps focusing on a niche segment who can use most of their offering.

Notwithstanding my self-prejudice for a coveted Brand and its products that I love so much, I decided to visit a Retail Store to physically touch and see the new launches. On a sunny Chennai afternoon last weekend, visited an upmarket Mall in the City, which for some strange reason has four retail stores next to & opposite to each other who sell multi-brands of Mobile phones and accessories apart from an Apple Premium Reseller (APR) and a Mi Experience Store. Even before I could visit the APR I happened to see the new iPhones at one of Tamil Nadu’s leading multi-brand Retail Store. The Staff were as uninterested as I were and they hardly explained why the new damn thing costs a lakh and fifty thousand bucks, with which one can but at least three new laptops or 15 mediocre mobile phones or perhaps even 5 top-end new mobile phone models. I didn’t bother to even ask queries and quickly moved on to the next chore with the family. Was having a sad grin on my face that the same “me” had waited at the same Mall five years back in a queue for four hours on a sunny November afternoon along with my better half to buy my Apple iPhone 5S on the launch day. How things change, huh!

My wife has been asking me to buy her a wearable device to measure footsteps, which we have been exploring for the past few days. Surprisingly, Croma and Reliance didn’t have a wide range while the Mi Experience Store at Express Avenue Mall didn’t have the widely popular Mi Watch 2. The staff at the Mi Store was unapologetic that it wasn’t available at their flagship store in South Chennai and instead advised us to visit a few days later when it would arrive at the Store. Really? Do Brand staff think Customers will Queue up anymore for their once coveted products? We ended up buying at another store whose Sales staff surprised us and matched the same price as the Mi Experience store where the device’s price is Rs. 200 lower than outside. At the Mi Experience store, I saw a wide range of products including LED TVs but another flagship Mi A5 model of Mobile Phone wasn’t available, once again. 

Recently, I was reading how Best Buy has embraced omni-channel in the US by ensuring a wide variety of models across Brands were made available at the Store and the Retailer also offered multiple models of delivery such as in-store, same day delivery, Day +1 delivery, at home delivery, etc. This was the only way they could counter the intense competition from Amazon in the US. Back in India, things remain unchanged. Croma has a namesake omni-channel model but the staff are disinterested in taking the effort. The bigger surprise was Mi Experience Store, where the staff could have immediately engaged with us, potential buyers of a Watch to browse the range on a device kept right at the store where one could browse and buy with a deliver in a day or two, Lost opportunity. 

This is just my personal experience and am damn sure there are millions of such experiences across the world where Customers are walking away without purchasing, thanks to disinterested staff and their respective Managements. A report in the Economic Times suggests that of the 1 lakh units kept ready for the opening weekend in India, not more than 50% were sold, thanks to low interest of Customers for various reasons, from new innovations to pricing. This is a first for Apple, what with already sagging Sales and the same trend could continue if they keep making iPhones which people stop buying for snob-value. And a younger brand like Mi which boasts of giving a run for money with its devices could do better with Merchandise Planning some Staff training. hope that’s not asking for too much from a Brand which has apparently carved a niche for itself.