Apple product sales down for Romania in 2013, premium re-seller invests in store remodeling

iStyle, the main re-seller of Apple products in Romania, saw its sales dipping last year compared to 2012. Through its two companies in Romania, iStyle Bucharest and iStyle Cotroceni, the company sold EUR 6.7 million and EUR 1.2 million worth of products, respectively, according to data from Romania's Finance Ministry. The year before, the two companies under the iStyle brand in Romania had sales of some EUR 8 million- for iStyle Bucharest – and EUR 1.96 million – for iStyle Cotroceni - which was on a loss both in 2012 and in 2013. The latter runs the iStyle shop in AFI Palace Cotroceni mall in Bucharest. iStyle Bucharest however, which runs the company’s other shops, namely two in Bucharest – one near Unirea and the other in Baneasa Shopping City – and another one in Cluj – Napoca, posted a profit in 2013: some EUR 24,400, lower than EUR 31,300 the year before. iStyle opened the shop in Baneasa Shopping City in March 2012, following investments of some EUR 300,000. On a sales area of some 156 sqm, it was the largest Apple premium re-seller shop in the region. The shop within AFI Palace Cotroceni was opened in 2011, and covers some 100 sqm, while the other shop in Bucharest covers just 50 sqm. In Cluj – Napoca, iStyle invested some EUR 200,000 earlier this year in re-opening the shop within the Polus Cluj mall. Some of the best sold Appple products in Romania are the iPad tablets, MacBook Air laptops, and the MacBook Pro Retina. Apple recently announced quarterly revenues of USD 45.6 billion and a quarterly net profit of USD 10.2 billion, for its fiscal 2014 second quarter ended March 29, 2014. The company also recently announced it acquired subscription streaming music service Beats Music, and Beats Electronics, which makes the popular Beats headphones, speakers and audio software. The deal was worth some USD 3 billion. As part of the acquisition, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple. Corina Chirileasa, corina@romania-insider.com