Best Buy to carry Macs soon; Apple trying to make huge splash w/ the G5?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Macnn posted an article today about best buy selling macs again. according to the article, some of the sku's are set to be in stock on 8/3. if apple can get G5s into all of best buys stores, think of what kind of exposure they could get.



You suddenly have a direct way for people to compare apples to oranges, and hopefully, more of them will see the difference.



I unfortunatly work for them so im going to see what i can find out about which sku's are in our inventory.



hope i dont get in trouble for this....

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    If the display computers are run like the one's at CompUSA, then it probably won't help Apple at all. Machines being logged out, can't get back in, crappy(most of the time) service. I was at a Best Buy recently, and I had to step in front of a sales person and stop them to get any help. Maybe not all the salespeople are like this, but all the ones I meet are.
  • Reply 2 of 17
    im gonna see if i can transfer to one of the computer departments in one of the larger stores from my current position. i just hope that theyre looking for a mac expert
  • Reply 3 of 17
    theflythefly Posts: 72member
    I wrote a commentary concerning the Apple, Best Buy marriage. You can read it here if you like, I've also copied it here:

    Quote:

    Best Buy, CompUSA & Circuit City



    There has been a lot of talk around the web recently about Apple and Best Buy teaming up. The talk goes that Apple will be putting a sales representative in the Best Buy stores much like they currently do with the ASC program at CompUSA. By everything we've heard, Apple has been very pleased with the success of the CompUSA/ASC program and is continuing to expand the program across CompUSA.



    Best Buy presents its own set of issues for Apple, however. As some of you will remember, Best Buy carried Apple Products (as well as Circuit City) in the past. The problem with Best Buy arose over the multi-colored iMacs. Apple demanded that Best Buy carry all five colors, whereas the retail outlet only wanted to carry the most popular colors. Eventually the two companies parted ways as Apple consolidated their retail outlets and refocused their selling strategies.



    Best Buy, however, never one to be left out of sales where popular products are, began to carry the iPod in their stores. We can only assume it's success and the success of the CompUSA/ASC program opened up discussions to implementing the program at Best Buy.



    While we haven't seen it reported anywhere else, we have heard that initially the two companies will be testing the program in a select number of stores. We heard the stores will be in the mid-west (the Company headquarters are up there as well). At Apple's Job website, there were a large set of ASC positions posted for Illinois. These could be for Best Buy or just the continued expansion of CompUSA's program.



    Either way, the results of the test marketing of the ASC program will determine if the companies move forward with the plan. However, there are two discussion points between the two companies taking place.



    One, not surprisingly, is a disagreement on which products Best Buy will carry. As before, Best Buy wants to carry a select number of products whereas Apple wants the full range of Consumer and Professional products. What we don't know is if this program is going to incorporate the "store-within-a-store" concept that works well for CompUSA, or if Apple products will just be stacked on shelves across from their VPR counterparts. VPR being Best Buy's own line of systems (which some folks have said have been very successful for the company). We can imagine, but in no way imply, that Best Buy would love to sell Apple products, as long as they don't compromise the sales of the VPR line.



    The second sticking point between the companies is the ASC themselves. The success of the program at CompUSA has been attributed to the fact that Apple places its own employee in the store. Apple wants to place employees in the stores, Best Buy, we've heard, is against the idea. It's baffling why they would be against having a product specialist in place at no cost to them?unless we repeat the last line of the previous paragraph again. Stories abound about the abysmal treatment Apple products received the first time they were in Best Buy. Not to mention the stores we hear about laptops suddenly becoming out of stock when the customer doesn't want to purchase Best Buy's extended warranty.



    While I would love to see more retail outlets for Apple products, I'm not convinced that Best Buy is the, er, best place for Apple to focus on. There is a nationwide retailer out there that I think would be ideal for Apple to work with: Target.



    Yes, Target. Target is an upscale retailer in competition with Wal-Mart. If, as is currently being attempted, Wal-Mart employees get unionized, their "Always Low Prices" maybe history?or at least history enough for Target to become even a greater threat.



    In Target's cleanly designed stores, Apple's store-in-a-store concept could make a greater impact and reach a wider diversity of consumers then Best Buy would. Additionally, if Target combined Apple's store-in-a-store with their electronics department, they would have a very nice, very clean area to demonstrate the digital hub concept. Not only would this be a win for Apple, Target would benefit immensely as well, allowing Target to improve their competitiveness with Wal-Mart.



    CompUSA and Circuit City sitting in a tree?



    As many of you probably don't know, CompUSA is owned by a Mexican conglomerate, The Grupo Group (if I remember the name correctly). Word has it that the Grupo Group is looking at purchasing Circuit City.



    CompUSA has recently been looking at expanding away from their core competency of computers and electronics and into the world of TVs, VCRs and rumor has it will be test marketing refrigerators and (we can only guess) washers and dryers. Discounting the fact that there is already Sears, Lowes, Best Buy and a variety of other retailers selling refrigerators, CompUSA is not the first place I think of when I need to buy one.



    The fact that they're looking at expanding their product base can only mean that company revenues are not exactly stellar. Since CompUSA is privately owned, they do not release financial information. Their marriage with AOL's money (AOL is paying to update the stores with big screens, CompUSA is pushing AOL), only seems to confirm this point.



    Of course, this expansion of SKUs is designed primarily to increase the foot traffic in the stores, which I'm sure, Hal Compton (big cheese of the company) is hoping will eventually evolve into high revenues. Then again, CompUSA only needs to look across the street at Best Buy, where you far more people returning products then buying.



    What CompUSA fails to realize is that they are their own worse enemy. With an obfuscated commission structure and a store design that looks like a warehouse on 42nd street, it's no wonder people are leery of shopping at the stores.



    CompUSA needs to gut and redesign their stores. I have long been the advocate of interior store designs that are warm and inviting. Compare Wal-Mart to Target. Target has a more inviting store and they don't look tacky with product stacked above the selves to the ceiling. Second, stop trying to compete on price alone. One step towards this is making an in-store theater set-up similar to what Apple has done. Then create some free basic training programs for that theater. The more people know how to use their systems, the more they'll want to upgrade. Finally, drop the AOL deal. It's demoralizing to your employees and annoys the regular customers who have to repeatedly decline the service.



    With a parts and service department to a training department, CompUSA has the entire purchasing cycle available to the customer. Yet, their execution is probably the dominant failure of the company.



    Memo to Hal Compton: Perfect your core competency first, then expand the SKUs.



    Has a bit more information then I've seen posted elseware (or not, depending upon how hard I searched, I guess).



    theFly
  • Reply 4 of 17
    gargoylegargoyle Posts: 660member
    TheFly, I don't want to pick on you - but was it totally necessary to paste that article into the thread? Do you have such little faith in the HTTP protocol that you thought your link might not work?



    That text you pasted was 8K worth, and we are upto 45 views, which makes about 360K of AI bandwith. If we all thought a little bit more before doing things like this we could save these guys a shitload of cash... Maybe.



    Sorry, just one of the pet hates I have about this forum... I must be in a mood tonight, its my second rant.
  • Reply 5 of 17
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    Chill.
  • Reply 6 of 17
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by TheFly

    I wrote a commentary concerning the Apple, Best Buy marriage. You can read it here if you like, I've also copied it here:





    Has a bit more information then I've seen posted elseware (or not, depending upon how hard I searched, I guess).



    theFly




    I like the idea of having Target sell Macs. It doesn't even need to be a huge store-within-a-store, it can just be a little island like they have with the Disney electronics and Eddie Baurer stuff.
  • Reply 7 of 17
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gargoyle

    TheFly, I don't want to pick on you - but was it totally necessary to paste that article into the thread? Do you have such little faith in the HTTP protocol that you thought your link might not work?



    That text you pasted was 8K worth, and we are upto 45 views, which makes about 360K of AI bandwith. If we all thought a little bit more before doing things like this we could save these guys a shitload of cash... Maybe.



    Sorry, just one of the pet hates I have about this forum... I must be in a mood tonight, its my second rant.




    that time of the month huh
  • Reply 8 of 17
    gargoylegargoyle Posts: 660member
    Quote:

    that time of the month huh



    Rawwwh... he he Going to bed, so I can rant at myself while I sleep.
  • Reply 9 of 17
    theflythefly Posts: 72member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gargoyle

    TheFly, I don't want to pick on you - but was it totally necessary to paste that article into the thread? Do you have such little faith in the HTTP protocol that you thought your link might not work?



    That text you pasted was 8K worth, and we are upto 45 views, which makes about 360K of AI bandwith. If we all thought a little bit more before doing things like this we could save these guys a shitload of cash... Maybe.



    Sorry, just one of the pet hates I have about this forum... I must be in a mood tonight, its my second rant.




    It's a coin of two sides. One way, I get bitched at for posting the entire article. The other way I get bitched at for promoting my own site.



    Personally, I think the 1000+ reply threads of people saying, "When's the G5 coming out?" getting view 30,000 times takes up a bit more bandwidth.



    theFly
  • Reply 10 of 17
    macsrgood4umacsrgood4u Posts: 3,007member
    Best Buy is not going to have G5s, at least in the foreseeable future. Hell, nobody has the G5s!
  • Reply 11 of 17
    isushiisushi Posts: 32member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by CubeDude

    If the display computers are run like the one's at CompUSA, then it probably won't help Apple at all. Machines being logged out, can't get back in, crappy(most of the time) service. I was at a Best Buy recently, and I had to step in front of a sales person and stop them to get any help. Maybe not all the salespeople are like this, but all the ones I meet are.



    Actually, the service at my CompUSA was great. The guy knew what he was talking about, and ended up offering me over $220 in rebates (!). In the end, I bought a better computer from the Apple store, but I'm going to CompUSA for my Apple needs as opposed to the actual Apple store on the other side of the highway.
  • Reply 12 of 17
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacsRGood4U

    Best Buy is not going to have G5s, at least in the foreseeable future. Hell, nobody has the G5s!





    We'll find out, im gonna see exactly which sku's we have tommorow
  • Reply 13 of 17
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by iSushi

    Actually, the service at my CompUSA was great. The guy knew what he was talking about, and ended up offering me over $220 in rebates (!). In the end, I bought a better computer from the Apple store, but I'm going to CompUSA for my Apple needs as opposed to the actual Apple store on the other side of the highway.



    We need a CompUSA like that here.



    Well, the Apple stores just another 10 minutes away, so it's not that big of a deal, and the rest of the stuff I need I can get at Radioshack or online.
  • Reply 14 of 17
    dave k.dave k. Posts: 1,306member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ThunderPoit

    [B]

    You suddenly have a direct way for people to compare apples to oranges, and hopefully, more of them will see the difference.



    Along with the $1000 price difference between them.
  • Reply 15 of 17
    theflythefly Posts: 72member
    Of course the quality of the sales person is going to vary between stores. The ASC at my local store is very good at his job (I actually applied for the position, which he got instead). He keeps the department up, computers in good working order and all that.



    More importantly, he gets the support he needs from the GM of the store. That question is still up in the air. How well will Best Buy as a company support Apple and even more importantly, how well will the GMs.



    There's certainly been stories on these boards that I remember reading about the horrible conditions with the Mac last time they were in Best Buy.



    But management in stores (and at the corporate level) has narrow sightedness. They don't see the whole purchase chain that occurs, only individual products.



    For example, they see that a lower margin Mac is selling better then a higher margin PC. So while their store revenue's go up, their stores margin's go down Anyone who's worked in a national retailer knows they track these numbers. Big thing at CompUSA is the joke that on ad days, the store's profit is typically negative because everyone's buying the "FREE FREE FREE" stuff.



    What they don't see, however, is that the person who purchased the Mac may/will come back and purchase additional equipment for it. A digital camera, a printer, etc. So over the live of the computer, Mac users generally have a higher life value then PC users.



    theFly
  • Reply 16 of 17
    ensign pulverensign pulver Posts: 1,193member
    Sorry to go OT, but how could you possibly think the plurals of "revenue" and "margin" are "revenue's" and "margin's". What's up with people pluralizing common nouns with apostrophes? It's turned into an epidemic.
  • Reply 17 of 17
    theflythefly Posts: 72member
    Fast typing and no proof reading. As I type around 80-90 WPM, my typing will get ahead of the grammer section of my brain.



    But as long as the message gets across, I'm not going to complain about personal forms of communication.



    Running three websites (just launched the latest on last night), I have more pressing matters to think about then if every i is dotted and t is crossed.



    If you want to complain about something, complain about the national news organizations who are in such a rush to get some news item to the web, they are littered with grammatical errors. But for me, I don't have a paid editor on staff.
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