Despite increasing local demand, Apple has failed to expand its retail presence in China, now its second largest market. This lack of stores and authorised resellers in the country may cause the firm to lose more than just sales.

In 2010 Ron Johnson, former head of Apple’s retail division, predicted Apple would soon have 25 retail stores in the country. However Pennsylvania, a US state with a population of 12.7 million, currently has more stores than the whole of China, where six Apple outlets cater to a population of 1.3 billion. One fifth of Apple’s revenue is derived from China, yet according to a Reuters estimate, there is only one store for every 215 million Chinese citizens.

The huge demand in China has resulted in an overflow of customers in the small number of stores.

Apple’s chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer, last year said the company’s China branches were its highest trafficked stores, and among those providing the most revenue for the company.

Torsten Stocker, a partner at business strategy firm Monitor Group said: “There’s certainly more demand than Apple can serve with their store footprint currently.”

The lack of stores and authorised resellers has allowed an opening for a booming grey market to emerge. Unauthorised resellers have jumped at the opportunity and are moving in, selling smuggled Apple products, or passing cheap Chinese imitations off as genuine. Scalpers are often first in line for new products which are then resold for profit. Earlier in the year scalpers even pelted a Beijing store with eggs after Apple decided against selling the latest iPhone there due to security concerns. Copycat Apple stores have also emerged in smaller mainland cities.

Poor quality products and grey market sellers offering no customer support may tarnish Apple’s reputation. Bad consumer experiences at unauthorised shops are by no means the exception and may erode confidence in Apple’s products.

David Wolf, chief executive of the Beijing-based consulting firm Wolf Group Asia warned that if Apple failed to expand its network of stores and authorised resellers, it would not only lose near-term sales:  “it also endangers the sustainability of its success in China,” he said.

While Apple products can be bought online in China, many consumers prefer to test the product in the store before buying.

Apple’s growth in China may therefore be stifled. The company also has to compete with rival Samsung and domestic players Huawei and ZTE in the fast growing smartphone sector.

While Apple claims to be taking time to ensure the right locations are secured in China, the slow expansion may also be caused by other factors such as the red tape which often hampers foreign companies dealing in China.

According to Andrew Milroy, vice president of Information and Communications Technology Research for the Asia-Pacific region at Frost & Sullivan in Singapore, “there are complications around opening stores in China that you don’t get in Western countries.”

However the lack of stores also brings into question whether Apple has the right management in place to drive expansion in China.

Yet with Apple recently paying Proview Technology $60 million to settle a lawsuit over the iPad trademark, and the company now able to sell its latest tablet computer in mainland China, demand is only likely to increase.

尽管本地需求在不断增长，苹果公司一直没有扩大其在中国的零售业务。中国目前是苹果公司的第二大市场，但由于缺乏商店和授权分销商，苹果公司在中国失去的可能远远不止销售机会。

在2010年，苹果公司零售部的前负责人罗恩·约翰逊，预测苹果将很快在中国开出25个零售商店。然而，美国的宾夕法尼亚州人口为1270万，目前的零售商店却比中国要多。中国的人口目前为13亿，而全国只有6个零售商店。其实苹果收入的五分之一来自中国，但据路透社统计，每2.15亿的中国公民才拥有一家苹果商店。

中国苹果产品的需求量巨大，因此中国苹果商店数量之少无法满足客户需求。

苹果公司首席财务官彼得·奥本海默说，去年，苹果的中国分公司是人流量最大的商店，并在给公司带来最多收入的商店其中。

托施-托克尔——经营策略公司摩立特集团的合作伙伴说：“目前苹果的商店肯定不能满足这么大的需求。”

由于缺乏零售商店和授权经销商，一个繁荣的灰色市场出现了。未经授权的分销商抓住了机会，销售走私的苹果产品，或假冒伪劣产品。黄牛经常排在队伍的最前列，买到最新的产品，然后把他们倒卖。今年年初苹果因安全方面的考虑，决定在北京某分店不售卖其最新版本的iPhone。黄牛便向那家商店投掷鸡蛋。另外，伪苹果店也出现了在较小的内地城市。

质量差的产品和灰色市场卖方不会提供客户支持，可能会损害苹果的名誉。另外，消费者在未经授权的商店发生不愉快的经验并不是例外，可能会损害消费者信心。

北京的咨询公司沃尔夫亚洲集团的首席执行官大卫·沃尔夫警告说，如果苹果未能把其商店和授权经销商的网络扩大，不仅会失去短期的销售，可能还会威胁到苹果在中国的持续成功。

虽然中国消费者能在网上买到苹果产品，许多消费者更喜欢在商店试用后再购买。

因此这可能会抑制苹果公司在中国的经济发展。该公司还要在快速增长的智能手机市场与对手三星和国内对手华为和中兴竞争。

尽管苹果声称要确保在中国获得一个稳定的地位，还是有其他因素导致了苹果的缓慢扩张。比如繁文缛节往往是阻碍外国公司在中国经营的一个因素。

据 Frost＆Sullivan公司新加坡的亚太地区信息和通信技术研究的副总裁安德鲁·米尔罗伊，“在中国开商店会遇到一些在西方国家不存在的问题。”

然而看着中国少数量的苹果商店，可能要问苹果是否有正确的管理推动该公司在中国的扩张。

苹果最近给唯冠科技支付了6000万美元解决iPad商标的官司，但是苹果目前能够在中国大陆出售最新的平板电脑，需求量将有增无减。