Dive Brief:

• Angela Ahrendts, former CEO of luxury retailer Burberry Group, is finally coming to work this week at Apple Inc. as chief of retail.

• Apple CEO Tim Cook in 2012 fired former retail chief John Browett, whom everyone agreed was not a fit for the company, and took over Browett’s duties himself. The Apple retail chief before Browett, Ron Johnson, has been widely credited with much of Apple’s retail success.

• Ahrendts will be the first retail chief at Apple to be in charge of both the company’s e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores.

Dive Insight:

Ahrendts arrival comes at a time when Apple consumers and investors are itching for improvements in the company’s retail operations. Although its stores enjoy a stellar reputation for customer service, their sales have been falling. And the retail website has long been seen as falling short. Ahrendts is credited with greatly boosting Burberry’s brand, and the anticipation for Ahrendts to revive Apple’s retail prospects is so high that she is also already being talked about as the company’s next CEO.