Apple™ is known for not only manufacturing the world’s most technologically advanced devices, but for leveraging those devices in their retail stores to engage customers. The company’s brick-and-mortar retail stores broke revenue records in Q1, increased their revenue by 9 percent and reaching the $7 million mark – due in large part to mobile payments.

The record numbers

More than 114 consumers visited an Apple retail store this past October, November and December – which translates to nearly 21,000 per store per week, raking in an average of $16.7 million in revenue per store. Apple’s total revenue for Q1 was $57.6 billion, which was a 6 percent rise year over year and a record number for both the company and the technology industry.

“No technology company has ever generated that much revenue in a single quarter,” SVP, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said of the record sales.

The reason behind them

Apple retail stores’ surge in brick-and-mortar sales was due to record-breaking iPhone® and iPad® sales. The company’s Touch ID software has revolutionized the way their customers make in-store purchases. The software, which is standard on the latest iPhone, allows users to authenticate purchases on their iOS device with their thumbprint to ensure the security of their device and the verification of their payment.

When discussing the company’s Q1 earnings, CEO Tim Cook said that mobile payments is an area that Apple has been “intrigued with” and that interest was their reasoning behind leveraging the Touch ID software.

“You can tell by looking at the demographics of our customers and the amount of commerce that goes through iOS devices versus the competition that (mobile payments are) a big opportunity on the platform,” Cook said.

Having garnered nearly $5 billion in revenue from iTunes purchases in Q1, the company is more than familiar with allowing iOS users to make purchases on their devices. Now, with the Touch ID software, Apple has the ability to turn the 400 million iPhones sold worldwide into mobile POS units – always in consumers’ pockets, ready to be used for seamless online and in-store retail purchases.

So as Apple makes its way into the mobile payment space, they are working toward creating a seamless omnichannel shopping experience that allows their customers to make convenient purchases in their preferred media.