29 Out of 42 Apple Stores in China Reopened, More Later in the Week

Image via Apple 

Now half of the Apple Stores in China are reopened after the coronavirus outbreak, which is 29 out of the total of 42 stores in the country. As a cause of the pandemic’s fears is underway, the lack of sales revenue from the retail store closures and China factory shutdowns have caused the March quarterly revenue to fall behind their guidance, which does not meet the expectations for the April earnings call. In response, Apple has been trying to reopen the stores to keep up with the sales revenue that has significantly dropped due to the outbreak.

The 29 stores are reopened but are only opened for 8 hours a day, instead of 12 hours in the regular business hours. The rest of the 42 stores will reopen at the end of this week, though that Apple has not said anything about reopening the 13 of the remaining locations. Apple said in their statement earlier in the last week that their employees in China are slowly returning to work, but operations are still continuing to be slowed down as there are still a few stores and factories shuttered in the country.

It is not possible for the Cupertino firm to catch up their quarterly sales as the limited store hours, and the shortfall of store and production factory openings turns away from normal customer traffic and full iPhone productions. The sales revenue for the iPhone in January had dropped critically by 28% compared to the holiday quarterly revenue in 2019. This is a significant downside to start the new year, as this decline is much more significant than the normal decline.

Apple is continuing to monitor the coronavirus outbreak’s impact on the company and iPhone production. The sales for February are anticipated to be the worst part of sales this month, as there are issues in supply and demand. The Cupertino company will provide additional feedback regarding the sales induced by the outbreak in April, which is the next quarterly earnings call.