given a narrower retail role

ees on the sales floor via their tablet devices. Sales associates who are assisting accessories offerings, while Gucci 2012 bagwomenswear ready-to-wear creative director Julie de Libran's spring/summer 2014 collection will be showcased on the second floor. Aside from the leather, wood and stone fittings, the store is decorated with artwork by two leading artists: Barnaby Barford, who has created a series of sculptures, each made using thousands of ceramic and porcelain flowers, leaves and butterflies; and Katsumi Hayakawa, who has produced t customers can also access information about their past purchases on a tablet computer. John Douglas, chief technology officer of Burberry, explains how this works using s the British apparel maker with plenty to prove. Angela Ahrendts, chief executive of the $11 billion fashion house, is leaving next

 year to run Apple’s retail operation. News of her departure lopped 4.5 percent off Burberry shares on Tuesday morning. No wonder: her tenure was good for investors. Worse, Burberry is flirting with a risky concentration of power. It is replacing Ms. Ahrendts with the company’s creative director, Christopher Bailey. But he will keep his current job. It is easy to see what drew the technology-savvy Ms. Ahrendts to California. She’ll no longer be the leader. But she will oversee both Apple Stores and online sales. Apple is also a more prestigious berth than Burberry, at least in business circles, and is much bigger, too. Pay and perks will probably reflect this. Last year, Ms. Ahrendts got 3.3 million pounds, or $5.2 million from Burberry. Contrast that with the terms that John Browett, the former Dixons boss, got

when he went to Appe. Last year, he was, briefly, given a narrower retail role the example of a fashionable shopper named Natasha, who takes a break from a conference in a distant city to browse through a Burberry store. The salesperson can greet her by name and use a tablet device to make Hermes garden party bagrecommendations using predictive analytics fueled by Natasha’s buying history, Twitter posts and fashion industry trend data. Natasha can examine raincoats that appear on the salesperson’s screen and then view videos of those coats. If she sees a garment she likes, the salesperson can use the device to instantly determine if the coat is in a store near Natasha’s hometown and arrange for it to b