While Apple had to close most of its retail stores during the pandemic, more customers have been choosing to buy online. To speed up this process, Apple will now ship products from its store stocks so that it can guarantee even faster deliveries.
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple has started using its retail stores as distribution centers for its products, which has been done for some time by other companies.
Apple products are usually shipped from warehouses near the customer’s region or directly from China in some situations, but now deliveries will come directly from the nearest Apple Store if the product is available there. There are already more than 300 stores prepared to operate as Apple’s distribution centers in the United States and Canada, according to Bloomberg sources.
The company expects to reduce delivery times for those living far away from its warehouses. Apple has partnered with FedEx and UPS to deliver the orders, and most of them are expected to be delivered the same day the customer places the order.
However, the customer will not be able to choose whether a product will be shipped from a warehouse or Apple Store. Apple will analyze the delivery address to choose the best option available.
Apple started testing the program with a small number of stores after locations started re-opening from Covid-19-related closures in June and July. It has rolled out to more, but not all retail sites across the US and Canada, the people said. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
This decision comes ahead of the launch of the iPhone 12 next week, which will probably have a huge demand. With this new method, Apple will likely be able to better handle the high number of online orders for the new iPhones. Shipping products from its retail stores will also reduce operating costs, Apple told its employees.
