Best Buy

gh0ztt

Just a general comment here... Why doesn't Best Buy carry Apple stuff? I was in there the other day and noticed the large number of laptops that they carry. While I was in the laptop section I even overheard one of the salespeople telling a customer "I would recommend either HP, Sony, or Apple when buying a laptop". Even hearing a salesperson mention Apple was pretty unusual.



The only retailer around here that even carries Apple is CompUSA... and their customer service sucks. Come on Apple, get your product into the major electronics retailers!

dmband0026

Best Buy does carry Apple stuff, all of them (except for three) nationwide do. You just have to find them.

kraig911

actually hardly any of them carry apple stuff, because I mean there are 3 around me and none of them carry apple computers, only iPods. I don't think that should qualify!

gh0ztt

Same here... only iPods.

scott

The one near me does and the one guy there I talked to owns a Mac.

cosmonut

I'd imagine that because of the sheer volume of product that Best Buy sells, and the amount of profit they want off of it, BBY wouldn't be interested in Apple products.



Quite frankly, Apple computers don't have the profit margin, market saturation, or production volume to make it worth it to Best Buy. When the supply chain is so unreliable at times, why would they want to take a risk on it?



Plus, Best Buy employees don't know SQUAT about Apple computers. Apple would have to spend a butt-load on paying for a representative to be in each store to even sell the product, maintain the displays, etc. because nobody else would do it.

a_greer

Quote:

Originally posted by CosmoNut

I'd imagine that because of the sheer volume of product that Best Buy sells, and the amount of profit they want off of it, BBY wouldn't be interested in Apple products.



Quite frankly, Apple computers don't have the profit margin, market saturation, or production volume to make it worth it to Best Buy. When the supply chain is so unreliable at times, why would they want to take a risk on it?



Plus, Best Buy employees don't know SQUAT about Apple computers. Apple would have to spend a butt-load on paying for a representative to be in each store to even sell the product, maintain the displays, etc. because nobody else would do it.

There are a lot of apple geeks (teens, college students) who would do it, and they could train the others, macs are EASY to learn, there are 5 modles each with 3 submodles, sure beats the 10 zillion flavors of the week from hp/compaq

macsrgood4u

Best Buy had a pilot program recently selling iMacs in some stores. It has supposedly ended. iPods seem to be available in some locations but they're usually hidden and not given any visability. Best Buy has not been a good match for Apple in the retail space. They had the original iMac in their stores but refused to carry all the fruity colors. Salespeople steered potential buyers away from the iMacs and after about a year, Apple discontinued their relationship. Best Buy got interested again with the iPod but the results, it seems to me, will be the same. The corporate cultures of the two companies just don't mesh. Apple has done much better with their store within a store at CompUSA. Another failed partnership was with Circuit City.

cosmonut

In my local Best Buy, the iPod ACCESSORIES are more prominently displayed than the iPod itself. While the accessories are hanging on pegs in their wireless section, the iPods are in a locked glass case at floor level in one of the computer aisles.



Sad.



Stupid.



Ridiculous.

macsrgood4u

..... infuriating.

pscates

Same here at my local Best Buy. The iPods are literally below knee-level, locked in a glass case and - depending on stock supply - might be pushed to the very back of the case, totally in the dark and nearly impossible to see (unless you dropped your gum and were crawling around on all fours looking for it and an iPod box happens to catch your eye).



In other words, you could just walk down the aisle and have no idea an iPod supply exists on that aisle. However, they put all their other crap (other mp3 players and accessories) at waist/chest level, hanging on pegs and totally accessible to the customer.



Brilliant! Sheer genius in its subtlety and quiet, confident approach!



\



But not nearly as brilliant as Target's method (although, as of late, they've finally come around and seemed to have gotten a clue): they used to stick the iPods down below the register in the electronics aisle. No display model, no demo graphic, no POP display or graphic, no "ask us about the iPod" signage, no Apple logo or anything. So unless you went there LOOKING for an iPod that you happened to know what carried by Target, you wouldn't "stumble across" it, like you would all the cameras, recorders, etc. they keep in the glass case.



The employee would have to bend down, unlock a drawer and get a boxed iPod out, IF you were savvy enough to even know to ask about them.



Goodness knows how many sales they probably missed by this cutting edge marketing technique.



Happily, they now give the iPod a nice space in the glass case, with accessories and even an endcap with some more accessories and iPod and iPod mini literature.



Nice that it only took a year or so for someone to get a handle on the whole thing.



I'd even ask them, in the past, "how in the world do you sell these things...no one knows they're here."



You'd get the typical marble-mouthed, "like" and "uh"-laden response you'd expect from the 20-year-old piercing experiment manning the counter.

neruda

Quote:

Originally posted by DMBand0026

Best Buy does carry Apple stuff, all of them (except for three) nationwide do. You just have to find them.

Yep, you can find them online. I know that's not the point of the original poster (that Apple should have a physical presence at Best Buy), but you can get no interest financing for approximately 18 months with a Best Buy Card. Not bad considering the Apple Loan ranges up to 22% APR.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....equestid=26110

thunderpoit

i know for a fact that no stores in minnesota (bby districts 1 & 2) sell macs, cuz i work for the bastards, but they carry them online .

jade

ipods are locked up because people steal them....you can't really leave them out. Look for mp3 players to move into the pda section soon ....and then the ipods will be on display.





As the rumor sites reported the apple/bby pilot is over, and i doubt the selected bbys in the chicago and california test markets will continue to sell the products. margin, inventory, training, and support on both sides from the execs lead to the failures. I doubt at this time BBY will sell more than ipods and accessories. But complain you eant more software and peripherals..and maybe bby will change their mind.

splinemodel

At the Best Buy I know, all of the good stuff is locked in a glass case. And while it's difficult to go through and pick the model you want, it's obvious that the iPod is there.