The Smart Logic Of Disney's Products And Apple's Retail Genius

Thanks to Apple and Disney's new retail partnership, your kids may soon be satisfied with a trip to the mall instead of Orlando or Anaheim. (Though since Steve Jobs is involved, it'll probably still cost you.)

As reported this week, Disney is planning to spend $1 million per store over the next five years, with Apple's help, to convert each existing Disney-branded outlet from a simple retail location to a complete "experience."

As the Times reports, Apple and Disney are carefully studying each others' expertise:

Mr. Jobs provided access to proprietary information about the development and operation of Apple’s highly successful stores, and Disney executives visited Apple’s research operation in Cupertino, Calif. Mr. Jobs... also insisted that Disney build a prototype store to work out kinks, a costly endeavor that most retailers skip.

Disney should listen to Jobs carefully. Yes, the Mouse House is a consumer products monster, with worldwide sales last year increasing to $30 billion in global sales. But Apple's stores boast the highest per-square-foot sales numbers of any mall-based retail outlet. Their combined expertise and resources creates the potential for a bone fide global juggernaut.

While Disney fanatics have always congregated around a mutual love of the brand, this new enterprise boosts Disney's other efforts to build a full-blown community around the brands it controls. In September, Disney held its first-ever D23 Expo, fashioned on Comic-Con conventions, where fans can meet and enjoy "exhibits, screenings, presentations and interactive experiences from every part of The Walt Disney Company."

While their core competencies may be complementary, the match isn't perfect. Unlike Apple's, the Disney brand thrives on nostalgia, not progressing modernity. And Disney has overreached before: Launched in 1987, Disney stores were initially so popular and lucrative that the brand expanded beyond any reasonable level, to more than 600. And within six years of launch, the stores were hemorrhaging nearly $100 million a year.

Disney's lucky to have a partner who knows retail -- and the meaning of "restart."