Some Best Buy stores may feature walled-off Apple boutiques
Electronics retailer Best Buy, which announced Wednesday that it will be expanding its Mac pilot program to about 200 stores, is expected to introduce a radically improved store-within-a-store concept at some locations.
"We believe Apple's store within a store at Best Buy will be much different compared to the current pilot store rollout, which was a table with Apple products on it," PiperJaffray Sr. Analyst Gene Munster told clients in a research note Wednesday evening.
"The difference," the analyst added, "is we expect some (smaller number) of these 200 stores will have walled-off Apple stores, while others will have improved layouts. "
Munster said it's clear from his checks that Best Buy customers "won't wander around" the stores to find Apple products. "A good way to think about Apple and Best Buy is the Coach or Chanel store within a store concept at Nordstrom," he wrote.
Best Buy plans to expand its Mac pilot to approximately 200 stores by fall 2007, up from 57 stores today. While that will account for only a 2 percent increase in physical Mac distribution points, Munster said his calculations indicate that the volume of visitors through Best Buy will actually equate to around a 10 percent increase in overall Mac exposure.
Still, the PiperJaffray analyst warned clients not to expect any material impact from Wednesday's announcement in Apple's June and September quarters, as the full-blown expansion will take some time to complete. However, he said the deal is an obvious indicator that Apple and Best Buy are seeing positive results from their initial tests.
"The relationship is headed in the right direction," wrote Munster. "Evidently the pilot is succeeding for both parties, which could result in a full expansion to Best Buy's 822 retail stores."
Apple's current "table" display at one Best Buy location | Source: CNet News.com
The move by Best Buy will more than offset the impeding closure 126 CompUSA retail stores, each of which featured an Apple store-within-a-store boutique, representing a net increase of 74 Mac distribution points to Apple's existing 7500 worldwide (or just shy of a 1 percent increase).
In addition to selling Macs and iPods, Best Buy last month agreed to carry the Mac maker's new Apple TV device at all of its retail locations nationwide.
"We believe Apple's store within a store at Best Buy will be much different compared to the current pilot store rollout, which was a table with Apple products on it," PiperJaffray Sr. Analyst Gene Munster told clients in a research note Wednesday evening.
"The difference," the analyst added, "is we expect some (smaller number) of these 200 stores will have walled-off Apple stores, while others will have improved layouts. "
Munster said it's clear from his checks that Best Buy customers "won't wander around" the stores to find Apple products. "A good way to think about Apple and Best Buy is the Coach or Chanel store within a store concept at Nordstrom," he wrote.
Best Buy plans to expand its Mac pilot to approximately 200 stores by fall 2007, up from 57 stores today. While that will account for only a 2 percent increase in physical Mac distribution points, Munster said his calculations indicate that the volume of visitors through Best Buy will actually equate to around a 10 percent increase in overall Mac exposure.
Still, the PiperJaffray analyst warned clients not to expect any material impact from Wednesday's announcement in Apple's June and September quarters, as the full-blown expansion will take some time to complete. However, he said the deal is an obvious indicator that Apple and Best Buy are seeing positive results from their initial tests.
"The relationship is headed in the right direction," wrote Munster. "Evidently the pilot is succeeding for both parties, which could result in a full expansion to Best Buy's 822 retail stores."
Apple's current "table" display at one Best Buy location | Source: CNet News.com
The move by Best Buy will more than offset the impeding closure 126 CompUSA retail stores, each of which featured an Apple store-within-a-store boutique, representing a net increase of 74 Mac distribution points to Apple's existing 7500 worldwide (or just shy of a 1 percent increase).
In addition to selling Macs and iPods, Best Buy last month agreed to carry the Mac maker's new Apple TV device at all of its retail locations nationwide.
Comments
Hopefully, they will have trained employees assigned to those stores, which if the volume is large enough, they would probably have to do.
Some Best Buy stores may feature walled-off Apple boutiques.
Awesome. Now can they wall-off the Apple area from the woefully undertrained, Mac-ignorant Best Buy salespeople?:
Huh huh huh, we dig our PC spiffs!
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Awesome. Now can they wall-off the Apple area from the woefully undertrained, Mac-ignorant Best Buy salespeople?:
That has to be the case for this to succeed! Only Apple staff in Apple area, i.e. an IQ result over 120 and proper training. Maybe a hidden electric fence and pain collars for the PC staff to keep them out ?
Maybe a hidden electric fence and pain collars for the PC staff to keep them out ?
Made me laugh this morning. Very good.
That has to be the case for this to succeed! Only Apple staff in Apple area, i.e. an IQ result over 120 and proper training. Maybe a hidden electric fence and pain collars for the PC staff to keep them out ?
Good one.
The wall would have to keep out not only the ignorant idiot salesmen, but also the greedy sociopaths who will convince you that your $299 Apple TV won't be worth a shit unless you connect it to your HDTV with a $220 Monster HDMI cable!
Good one.
The wall would have to keep out not only the ignorant idiot salesmen, but also the greedy sociopaths who will convince you that your $299 Apple TV won't be worth a shit unless you connect it to your HDTV with a $220 Monster HDMI cable!
I'm expecting Apple Store Minis(?) to be setup in cities that are mid-size. IWO, large enough to have a Best Buy, but not large enough to be close to an Apple Store. My closest Apple Store is over an hour away (and it just opened) while my closest Best Buy is only a half hour away. Needless to say, I'm hoping this happens in my city.
The big question is, will Apple have an Apple employed "genius" or will they merely train a Best Buy employee. I really hope it's the former. I also hope that these stores become a hub station for the Genius Bar, allowing users with problems to bring their Macs into the Apple Store Mini to get service. I think that will go a long way to ensure peace of mind for many potential switchers.
I'm feeling smart today. I was just writing on another forum about how Apple's presence in Best Buy should be handled (just like this article states) if it is to work.
I'm expecting Apple Store Minis(?) to be setup in cities that are mid-size. IWO, large enough to have a Best Buy, but not large enough to be close to an Apple Store. My closest Apple Store is over an hour away (and it just opened) while my closest Best Buy is only a half hour away. Needless to say, I'm hoping this happens in my city.
The big question is, will Apple have an Apple employed "genius" or will they merely train a Best Buy employee. I really hope it's the former. I also hope that these stores become a hub station for the Genius Bar, allowing users with problems to bring their Macs into the Apple Store Mini to get service. I think that will go a long way to ensure peace of mind for many potential switchers.
Hey solipsism why not apply for the job in SRQ?
Hey solipsism why not apply for the job in SRQ?
I would sooner die than work in retail.
They then started doing the sales pitch on the pros and cons of the Apple TV which came to a gruelling halt when they said that the "Apple TV doesn't have a hard drive" -That's when I left...beaten by ignorance.
It's right there on the box, dummy!
Yeah, tell me about it. I went to Best Buy over the weekend to check out the Apple TV. It was connected to the TV, but they hadn't figured out how to connect it wirelessly...and why it wasn't picking up Windows Media Player....seriously!
They then started doing the sales pitch on the pros and cons of the Apple TV which came to a gruelling halt when they said that the "Apple TV doesn't have a hard drive" -That's when I left...beaten by ignorance.
It's right there on the box, dummy!
Isn't there a season to shoot these people legally? This is America after all!
...unless you connect it to your HDTV with a $220 Monster HDMI cable!
This just got me thinking and recently someone discovered that power cables were better quality speaker cables than Monster's 'good' stuff!
Good one.
The wall would have to keep out not only the ignorant idiot salesmen, but also the greedy sociopaths who will convince you that your $299 Apple TV won't be worth a shit unless you connect it to your HDTV with a $220 Monster HDMI cable!
Do tech people buy Momster cables or just those who are tech-tarded?
I recently needed an HDMI to DVI adapter. Best Buy sold a Monster adapter for $33, Radio Shack had a Monster adapter for $30 and Walmart had a Belkin adapter for $25.
Instead, I bought one off of Amazon for $6. Granted, I had to pay a few dollars for shipping and wait a few days for delivery, but I think I made the right decision.
Do tech people buy Momster cables or just those who are tech-tarded?
I guess you could call me temporarily "tech-tarded" because I was in the "fog of commerce". They told me that the one that I wanted was sold out, so I could have the floor model for a certain cash discount plus more money on a gift card. Besides my salesman had only one leg and was wheelchair-bound -- is that a common stereotype, that the handicapped are more honest than the rest of us?
I regained my equilibrium when I got out of the pressure-cooker, oops, I mean, store and immediately returned the overpriced cable and got a similar one from Monoprice for a tenth the price!
Will this be like the porno room in some of those movie rental stores?
Oh, you'd like to see a Mac, you say?
Well of course, just step through the beaded curtain........