They do this so they can actually put the ipad in the sunday ad with a minimum amount per store. No one getting pissed off that way
But they already have a minimum amount per store: the daily quota the story is talking about. If they're doing okay with that, why save up to have even more for the ad?
UPDATE – The original tipster just got this from Tim Cook:
SL,
My understanding is most of their stores sold all of their initial supply on the first night of the launch and the balance were out by the following day. I am not aware of any units being held.
This doesn't make much sense to me. So Apple is making iPads as fast as they can to try to satiate incredible demand. Weeks later lines are still persisting and plenty of people still want one. So, Best Buy decides to leave them in the back room because they want to run a promotion? This is ridiculous. If this were true and I was Apple, I would be very pissed that my customers were having to wait and my reputation was suffering because of some promotion.
Sure it does.
The promotion is "if you buy this other stuff from us, you can get an iPad 2 today!"
that sounds like utter bull shit! the iPad is probably The very last product on the market that needs any kind of promotional sales program. This is one of the reasons I don't shop at Bestbuy, they don't give a rats ass about the consumer, all they care about is making sure the blue shirts push the accessories with every purchase.
That and pushing those frigging extended warranties.
Bwah ha ha ha ha "upcoming promotion" my ass. It's amazing to see how the corporate world just blatantly tells lies as a natural part of business. They don't even blink an eyelid while doing it.
Actually I worked retail for 4 years, until I ran away screaming for my sanity...
Retail is a bizarre, bizarre world. I'm glad you got out. Not that the corporate world is fantastic, but being on the sales floor all the time, trying to hit targets, waiting for your commission cheque and constantly dealing with all kinds of customers... is a lot tougher than most non-retail people think. Some days I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
I "got out" of it by doing customer (end user) training instead. But I'm ending that this month, new Mac users are way too clueless and are driving me insane.
It makes sense that they would be holding them for an upcoming ad...I remember them doing this with the Wii on many occasions around the holiday season a few years ago. I guarantee they can't get anywhere close to enough stock from Apple to keep up with demand so what does it matter to them if they sell a few each day they get a shipment or a ton on one day that it's in the ad (which if it's in the ad they are required to have a minimum quantity). I'm not currently in the market, but I think it would be nice to know that they are definitely going to have some on a certain day even if I have to wait in line instead of calling and stopping by every day to check.
This doesn't make much sense to me. So Apple is making iPads as fast as they can to try to satiate incredible demand. Weeks later lines are still persisting and plenty of people still want one. So, Best Buy decides to leave them in the back room because they want to run a promotion? This is ridiculous. If this were true and I was Apple, I would be very pissed that my customers were having to wait and my reputation was suffering because of some promotion.
Apple shouldn't care. It has already made the sale to BBY. If BBY wants to hold them, then well, that's it's decision, consumers can go elsewhere- Apple, Target, VZ, AT&T, Radio Shack, or order online. Apple rather have customers buy from their stores since it eliminates the cut to the middleman. In fact, that's why 3rd-party resellers receive such little to no inventory when supply is constrained- Apple stores getting nearly all.
Last year, BBY received an initial shipment on launch, and then two weeks later, got a guaranteed shipment for Apple couple days before the promotion. Thus, it's very likely Apple is aware and approves of them holding stock for promotion. Apple stands to benefit from BBY's campaign as it boosts visibility and publicity.
However, If there is some shadiness here, I suspect it could be just an isolated incident or two, where a store received shipment for more than needed to reserve, and then divvied the excess units up to sell over several days to make daily budget goals. That's more a matter within BBY- stores and corporate since employees are trying to game the system. And it may be that all other stores sold their excess all in one day, and aren't selling any today because they have to hold them for Sunday. People may have interpreted that as Apple intervening and ordering them to stop sales because iPad was being pulled from BBY.
People who wonder why BBY would advertise for a product people are standing in line for should consider why Apple is doing lots of advertising on national tv. While I'm sure Apple loves it's longtime customers (and they should, they sustained Apple through the dark years) the ads from both Apple, and now apparently BBY, are not aimed them. People who wait in line or order online at 1:00 in the morning are probably going to get one no matter what. Fish in a barrel
Mom and Dad. Grandma and grandpa. That's who they need to push over the edge to buy. There's way more of them and it seems Apple is counting on them to get the kind of economy of scale necessary to make the awesome things they do. Well... And make money, lots and lots of money An 8"x10" glossy ad of the ipad sitting around the house is good for apple and BBY gets to try to sell other stuff when mom and dad come to see what all the fuss is about with this ipad thing their damn kids won't shut the hell up about. Kinda the opposite of a loss leader- a profit leader? iOS is much more intuitive and easier to manage than osx for the average person for a reason. When they come to check it out they say "wow this is easy to use, I never imagined I would say that about a computer".
That and pushing those frigging extended warranties.
Way back when (long before the first Apple Store) I got hired by Apple to represent the original iMac when it was sold for a while at BestBuy. Among my jobs was to explain to people why not having a floppy drive was a GOOD thing. Anyway, after selling a couple on the Bondi Blue iMac, I got a visit from the store manager. The couple had told the cashier that I had advised them not to buy the extended warranty because Apple products were so darn reliable. After a good scolding I got back to work and bit my tongue about warranties. I think my job ended shortly after and I always suspected it was a bit premature due to my ill-advised honesty.
While I do not intend to pick on you in particular - how hard is it really folks to get things like that correct?
I suppose since the majority of those with a driver's license fail to adhere to even the most basic of motor vehicle laws such as staying in the proper lane when making a turn - I can't really expect too many people to pay much attention to proper use your vs you're.
Now what were we talking about? Best Buy stocking practices - far be it from me to tell an apparently successful retail operation how to do its business - but it does seem that we are talking a tidbit of information which is already couched in speculation and adding some pretty wild interpretations onto it. Also, just because something does not seem to make sense to you or me doesn't mean it wasn't intentionally done that way - or vice versa - just because something seems to be a reasonable explanation to your or me doesn't mean that is in fact what is really going on.
I think that at least half (or more) of the "rumours" or "Report: Apple is doing..." headlines are just made up by bloggers that need to write something so that people will click through to their stories. I visit enough blogs and news sites to be able to watch these rumours just run through all of them, without any of them having any facts.
Granted most of them are just "informed" guesses, but someone makes an outlandish supposition from some scrap of info and all of a sudden Best Buy is BLACKLISTED by Apple. Then that headline is so juicy that the other blogs pick it up, it's funny really, and sometimes just pathetic. But we keep reading them anyways...
Now Best Buy says that they are just holding them for a promo, and some sites try to read crazy things into that statement...
As the old tried and true saying goes: Believe none of what you read, and just half of what you see...
When I worked in retail is was not unusual to receive a large shipment of a sale priced item prior to the sale beginning - and not uncommon for customers to be really unhappy with us should we fail to have a product in the ad for ANY reasons whatsoever. In addition, it was also not unusual for a few items in the sales promotional advertisement to be advertised at the normal regular everyday price. Meaning they could be using the iPad at its regular price as the center point of a sales promotional in which they hope to sell lots of other stuff - but do not want every person to walk through the door to see an iPad immediately leaving because they already sold out of the 2 they had in stock that morning.
Comments
They do this so they can actually put the ipad in the sunday ad with a minimum amount per store. No one getting pissed off that way
But they already have a minimum amount per store: the daily quota the story is talking about. If they're doing okay with that, why save up to have even more for the ad?
This whole thing just sounds fishy.
Someone at BB F****'d up , apologized and made nice nice with Apple and that's the result of said "promotion" to save face. Someone got spanked.
I am going to watching for the fake "Save Face" promotion to see what I can get. If it's any good it won't last long.
I am going to watching for the fake "Save Face" promotion to see what I can get. If it's any good it won't last long.
I'm quite curious to see what it is myself. The only time I go into BB is to get hands on time with products I plan on buying elsewhere.
Apple's iPad 2 would sell just as well with or without Best Buy. There's plenty of stores that will gladly stock it in their absence.
SL,
My understanding is most of their stores sold all of their initial supply on the first night of the launch and the balance were out by the following day. I am not aware of any units being held.
Tim
Rumor (potentially) smashed.
Reposted from CrunchGear: http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/04/07...sted-by-apple/
Seriously, we?ve gone all day without anyone making this joke?
Just last week Best Buy was bashing the iPad with a ridiculous ad and now they're going to have a special promotion for it?
Will the iPad come with a free roll of grey tape? How else am I going to hook my keyboard up to it?
You loop a Dell mouse cable around it a couple times. (You do have a mouse for your iPad, don't you?)
UPDATE ? Best Buy?s CEO just got this from Steve Jobs:
Seriously, we?ve gone all day without anyone making this joke?
Your (sic) reely (sic) on a role (sic) today.
This doesn't make much sense to me. So Apple is making iPads as fast as they can to try to satiate incredible demand. Weeks later lines are still persisting and plenty of people still want one. So, Best Buy decides to leave them in the back room because they want to run a promotion? This is ridiculous. If this were true and I was Apple, I would be very pissed that my customers were having to wait and my reputation was suffering because of some promotion.
Sure it does.
The promotion is "if you buy this other stuff from us, you can get an iPad 2 today!"
that sounds like utter bull shit! the iPad is probably The very last product on the market that needs any kind of promotional sales program. This is one of the reasons I don't shop at Bestbuy, they don't give a rats ass about the consumer, all they care about is making sure the blue shirts push the accessories with every purchase.
That and pushing those frigging extended warranties.
UPDATE ? Best Buy?s CEO just got this from Steve Jobs:
Seriously, we?ve gone all day without anyone making this joke?
Well done!
You loop a Dell mouse cable around it a couple times. (You do have a mouse for your iPad, don't you?)
Somebody should be looping that Dell mouse cable around their neck.
You've obviously never worked retail...
Actually I worked retail for 4 years, until I ran away screaming for my sanity...
Retail is a bizarre, bizarre world. I'm glad you got out. Not that the corporate world is fantastic, but being on the sales floor all the time, trying to hit targets, waiting for your commission cheque and constantly dealing with all kinds of customers... is a lot tougher than most non-retail people think. Some days I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
I "got out" of it by doing customer (end user) training instead. But I'm ending that this month, new Mac users are way too clueless and are driving me insane.
This doesn't make much sense to me. So Apple is making iPads as fast as they can to try to satiate incredible demand. Weeks later lines are still persisting and plenty of people still want one. So, Best Buy decides to leave them in the back room because they want to run a promotion? This is ridiculous. If this were true and I was Apple, I would be very pissed that my customers were having to wait and my reputation was suffering because of some promotion.
Apple shouldn't care. It has already made the sale to BBY. If BBY wants to hold them, then well, that's it's decision, consumers can go elsewhere- Apple, Target, VZ, AT&T, Radio Shack, or order online. Apple rather have customers buy from their stores since it eliminates the cut to the middleman. In fact, that's why 3rd-party resellers receive such little to no inventory when supply is constrained- Apple stores getting nearly all.
Last year, BBY received an initial shipment on launch, and then two weeks later, got a guaranteed shipment for Apple couple days before the promotion. Thus, it's very likely Apple is aware and approves of them holding stock for promotion. Apple stands to benefit from BBY's campaign as it boosts visibility and publicity.
However, If there is some shadiness here, I suspect it could be just an isolated incident or two, where a store received shipment for more than needed to reserve, and then divvied the excess units up to sell over several days to make daily budget goals. That's more a matter within BBY- stores and corporate since employees are trying to game the system. And it may be that all other stores sold their excess all in one day, and aren't selling any today because they have to hold them for Sunday. People may have interpreted that as Apple intervening and ordering them to stop sales because iPad was being pulled from BBY.
Mom and Dad. Grandma and grandpa. That's who they need to push over the edge to buy. There's way more of them and it seems Apple is counting on them to get the kind of economy of scale necessary to make the awesome things they do. Well... And make money, lots and lots of money
That and pushing those frigging extended warranties.
Way back when (long before the first Apple Store) I got hired by Apple to represent the original iMac when it was sold for a while at BestBuy. Among my jobs was to explain to people why not having a floppy drive was a GOOD thing. Anyway, after selling a couple on the Bondi Blue iMac, I got a visit from the store manager. The couple had told the cashier that I had advised them not to buy the extended warranty because Apple products were so darn reliable. After a good scolding I got back to work and bit my tongue about warranties. I think my job ended shortly after and I always suspected it was a bit premature due to my ill-advised honesty.
Best Buy....your fired.
Proper use of the English Language on the Internet: YOU'RE FIRED!
http://www.esldesk.com/vocabulary/misspelled-words
While I do not intend to pick on you in particular - how hard is it really folks to get things like that correct?
I suppose since the majority of those with a driver's license fail to adhere to even the most basic of motor vehicle laws such as staying in the proper lane when making a turn - I can't really expect too many people to pay much attention to proper use your vs you're.
Now what were we talking about? Best Buy stocking practices - far be it from me to tell an apparently successful retail operation how to do its business - but it does seem that we are talking a tidbit of information which is already couched in speculation and adding some pretty wild interpretations onto it. Also, just because something does not seem to make sense to you or me doesn't mean it wasn't intentionally done that way - or vice versa - just because something seems to be a reasonable explanation to your or me doesn't mean that is in fact what is really going on.
I think that at least half (or more) of the "rumours" or "Report: Apple is doing..." headlines are just made up by bloggers that need to write something so that people will click through to their stories. I visit enough blogs and news sites to be able to watch these rumours just run through all of them, without any of them having any facts.
Granted most of them are just "informed" guesses, but someone makes an outlandish supposition from some scrap of info and all of a sudden Best Buy is BLACKLISTED by Apple. Then that headline is so juicy that the other blogs pick it up, it's funny really, and sometimes just pathetic. But we keep reading them anyways...
Now Best Buy says that they are just holding them for a promo, and some sites try to read crazy things into that statement...
As the old tried and true saying goes: Believe none of what you read, and just half of what you see...
When I worked in retail is was not unusual to receive a large shipment of a sale priced item prior to the sale beginning - and not uncommon for customers to be really unhappy with us should we fail to have a product in the ad for ANY reasons whatsoever. In addition, it was also not unusual for a few items in the sales promotional advertisement to be advertised at the normal regular everyday price. Meaning they could be using the iPad at its regular price as the center point of a sales promotional in which they hope to sell lots of other stuff - but do not want every person to walk through the door to see an iPad immediately leaving because they already sold out of the 2 they had in stock that morning.