According to new data from the Asymco research group (http://www.asymco.com), in conjunction with "RetailSails" (http://www.retailsails.com), Apple retail stores have 17 times better performance than the average retail store.

The data looks at the top 20 U.S. chains with the highest retail sales per square feet of store space. "RetailSails" analyzed all 160+ American retailers (excluding restaurants) who publicly report financial information.

"It’s not surprising Apple leads the pack, as there have been numerous articles such as this, but it is quite shocking by how far ahead of the competition they are, especially considering the company only has 10 years of retail experience," says "RetailSails." "... There have been several comments regarding the accuracy of Apple’s sales per sq ft numbers, so we just want to clarify -- all figures are based on global results for the most recently reported trailing 4 quarters (through fiscal Q3 ending 6/25 for Apple)."

Asymco points out that the data shows Apple is more than twice as efficient as the second place Tiffany and Co. It’s also more than seven times the median of the top 20 and seventeen times better than the average mall retail space.