Apple in Best Buy Pilot Over?

[MacRumors]

According to one report, Apple's Best Buy pilot program has been terminated.

Apple and BestBuy launched a pilot program to sell Apple products in Best Buy retail locations.

No details are available as to the circumstances around the end of the program.

[wellumok]

I just checked the Best Buy website and they are still selling them there. Of course, maybe they are just clearing out the inventory. Hopefully they arent ending the Best Buy relationship - I wanted it to expand to the Best Buy in my area.

[ITR 81]

Originally Posted by wellumok

I just checked the Best Buy website and they are still selling them there. Of course, maybe they are just clearing out the inventory. Hopefully they arent ending the Best Buy relationship - I wanted it to expand to the Best Buy in my area.

Terminating the pilot program only means all BB stores will carry Apple products or none of them will. I bet they will all start carrying Apple products...since all the iPods sold out here.

[lind0834]

Maybe the Best Buy online music store is finally finally going to happen. And they don't want the competition?

[scottlee]

The problem with BestBuy is they do nothing to promote the Apple products they carry. My local store has iPods but the are only displayed in a locked case which sits on the floor that NOBODY CAN SEE. They do not even have one out of the box to be seen, yet all the other devices are at eye level. No wonder BestBuy can't sell Apple product, it's because they don't put any effort forth.

[fixyourthinking]

My Best Buy in Greenville SC has (or had) displays sitting in the back for iBooks and iMacs and never put them out. They only have iPods (usually 1 or 2 or sold out) in a locked glass case.

I think the effort was half hatched and Apple chose not to follow up on it.

The last post I read had an interesting point about the music store though. Although I would suppose that it would be a partnership and Best Buy would NOT stop selling iPods, it's one of their best store sales boosters. 3 iPods a week at my local store helps them get kudos and rewards for best store in the region.

[Chip NoVaMac]

In the DC area the only promotion of Apple was mentioning in their flyers that certain promotions were not valid or were valid on Apple computers. And in the stores that carried them, they were put off in a corner. So it would be no surprise to me that Best Buy would drop them.

[Masao[RY]]

Well, the local bestbuy here, is awlful with the Apple products. All the Macs are passworded, so you have to go find someone who knows the password so you can give it a good test run, but once that is done you come to a desktop that has been trashed by people :-/ Icons gone from the dock, programs in the trash, and set to an odd non-native resolution. Its like no one bothers to take care of them and its just such a hassle to get someone to enter the damn 'password' (which leads to an admin account, thus the point of the password is pretty stupid)

All the boxes are in the wrong places, FCP will be where AppleWorks should be, MS Office is where 'The Sims' are suppose to be (one can tell this by looking on the shelf to see the price tags..). There is hardly any mac software there, either. The place is a mess whenever I go there.

I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't selling anything... Of course when one looks at the nearby PC laptop section-- it is fine. BestBuy staff seem to ignore the Apple section, unless they 'have to'.

IMO, its sad if BestBuy stops selling Macs, since it is one less place one can go to, but Apple really needs to train the bestbuy staff and/or bestbuy needs to get their act together, at least in my local store... I believe if they kill the program, all together, then there should be some good sales on whatever is left in stock.

[RStu0718]

I talk to about 30 of the BestBuy's regularly that sell the Macs and there has been no mention of pulling the pilot, only talk of expanding it.

[themacolyte]

Originally Posted by Masao[RY]

IMO, its sad if BestBuy stops selling Macs, since it is one less place one can go to, but Apple really needs to train the bestbuy staff and/or bestbuy needs to get their act together, at least in my local store...

I believe the original stories for this program indicated that Apple was providing training to Best Buy staff in the pilot stores. Regardless, I'm not sure it would help. My experience is that the staff doesn't know much about the PCs either (and I don't think this is specific to Best Buy but I'm in there looking about often enough to have Best Buy first in my mind). I enjoy lingering while the staff helps out other customers in the computer section.

In one instance, a man asked what the refresh rate on the monitor was. The sales guy responded that the computer they were looking at should provide more than 30 fps on most current 3D programs and there wouldn't be a noticeable difference in the quality of the picture above that. In my experience responses like this aren't at all unusual.

[KREX725]

As a previous employee of Best Buy back in the days of their original relationship with Apple, I kinda expected to see this (although not yet confirmed). BB's computer sales employees are routinely anti-Mac without ever using them (what's new?). That area was always neglected unless I "patrolled" it (I was in the "media" dept.). If I wasn't working, inquiring customers were told to come back when I was working if they had questions because the HO (home office) employees wouldn't even attempt to help them.

Right before I left the company, they brought in the original 233 iMac and although it sold okay (they rarely had but a few in stock), it quickly faded away too.

Unless Apple intends to hire its own people to staff the Mac section open-to-close, they're wasting their time (IMO).

Personally, I like this "new" idea floating around about opening kiosks, etc. in universities or shopping malls (if not a real Apple Store). The Apple Store here in St. Louis is always busy and seems to get good reviews by non-Mac users who ventured in out of curiosity.

[achmafooma]

Originally Posted by scottlee

The problem with BestBuy is they do nothing to promote the Apple products they carry. My local store has iPods but the are only displayed in a locked case which sits on the floor that NOBODY CAN SEE. They do not even have one out of the box to be seen, yet all the other devices are at eye level. No wonder BestBuy can't sell Apple product, it's because they don't put any effort forth.

I stopped by a Best Buy not to long ago in my parent's town (far from the Apple Stores and CompUSA's and Micro Centers we have in civilization ;-)). They had a few Macs out on display right next to their PC counterparts.

But when I walked through the computer section, I overheard a piece of a conversation which I will paraphrase here:

BB guy: "Yeah you can do all sorts of stuff with this machine [the PC he was showing to an older lady who clearly knew very little about computers]. You can burn CD's, get on the internet, whatever you want to do."

Lady: "Oh. Well I was really thinking about a Macintosh. I hear they're a lot easier to use."

BB guy: "Um. I don't know anything about the Macs. But there's not as many programs and stuff for them and a lot of things just don't work with them."

I kid you not. If I hadn't been in a huge hurry (this was Christmas Eve, after all!) I'd have stayed and helped that poor lady out. I'm actually familiar with the benefits and risks of PCs and Macs, using both regularly.

I'd be interested to find out how much Best Buy (and/or the employees, I don't know if they get a commission) gets off a PC sale versus a Mac sale. Since Macs are generally a bit more expensive, I would have thought they'd be trying to play up the qualities of the Macs. But maybe it works out differently insofar as how much the retailer gets out of the deal.

I don't know, I just can't figure why Best Buy's people are so intent on selling Windows PCs even to people who come in with an inclination toward a Mac. If Macs were given a fair treatment by the sales people, I think a lot more would be puchased.

[macnews]

If the program folds I don't think it would hurt much based on the "support" from Best Buy staffers. If the pilot was just a test to see if they could move product, then the case might be different. Years ago, the local Comp USA sucked at any Apple support or knowledge, despite carring some Apple product. Very much reminded of the Best Buy experiences. Now there is a local Apple rep who is in the store and other employees are trained and actually helpful! The result has been a lot of Apple product moving out the front door. If this program could be duplicated with Best Buy, maybe like others have suggested, the program is going to expand.

[Chip NoVaMac]

I'll be disappointed if it happens only from the standpoint I like Best Buy only for the cheap financing...

[evil]

the best buy by my parents house (orland park IL) has a pretty nice display of apple stuff. they have all of apple's computers out so anyone can play with them. they are not by the windows computers, but are in their own little section. The ipods and all the mac software is in the same little area as well. i think that there was actually an employee or 2 stationed there.

[DeusOmnis]

I'd imagine the program was terminated because Apple wanted a really good deal and Best Buy didnt like the idea.

[Fuchal]

Originally Posted by achmafooma

I don't know, I just can't figure why Best Buy's people are so intent on selling Windows PCs even to people who come in with an inclination toward a Mac. If Macs were given a fair treatment by the sales people, I think a lot more would be puchased.

My friend who used to work at Best Buy said that the PCs are barely marked up in price... so they don't make much money from them, but they make all the money from the PC accessories which are marked up like crazy and they want you to buy after you've bought the PC.

[ffakr]

Originally Posted by evil

the best buy by my parents house (orland park IL) has a pretty nice display of apple stuff. they have all of apple's computers out so anyone can play with them. they are not by the windows computers, but are in their own little section. The ipods and all the mac software is in the same little area as well. i think that there was actually an employee or 2 stationed there.

I'm from the area too. I haven't been in the orland one for ages, but the Crestwood IL bestbuy has a really bad display. They've got a few machines out and they are all messed up. There is one admin account for everyone to use on the machines. They had a G4 out running 10.2.4 (this was like 2 months ago). They had a 10.2.7 G4 1.6 GHz with 256MB ram in it. All the images were screwed up and I couldn't find any Apple software.
The one in Ford City has them in a slightly more open and up front area), but they were demo'ing Soundtrack on the 256MB 1.6 GHz G5 and it just didn't have enough memory. It made the machine look much slower than it was. Ford City seemed to take better care of their macs though.

Apple really needs to up the minimum ram. It makes the demo machines run poorly.

[legion]

The Best Buy in my area (Los Angeles locale) had mini iPods for sale a full 24 hrs before all the Apple Stores or Fry's Electronics in the area. They still keep the iPods and mini iPods locked away (like any high price stealable item) but they have display models mounted like PowerPCs and Palm PDAs for demoing-- it was quite nice to have the iPod and mini iPod side-by-side to play with.

Plus, I picked up a few mini iPods for friends when I saw them there so no one had to wait in line at any of the Apple Stores the following day -- just a quick cell phone call from the store to all I knew who were interested. On a sidenote, a friend who had pre-ordered a mini iPod had his arrive that same morning.

[numediaman]

Chicago area Best Buy:

Middle-aged guy: "I'm looking to buy some speakers for my daughters Mac. Do I need special speakers for a Mac?"

Best Buy salesperson: "We don't carry speakers for the Mac. I think you need a special adapter or something."

Of course, I jumped in and helped the poor guy out. If Apple decides to pull out of Best Buy I wouldn't be upset. The only reason I can see for staying would be to make it easier to buy Apple accessories. Since Apple won't let BB discount the products, I don't see why Best Buy would even want to carry Apple products.

[garybooberry]

Not to sound like a jerk, but Best Buy does a HORRIBLE job representing Apple in every location I have visited.

The sales staff are ill-informed and generally dislike Apple (prefer PC's), and if you thought they were unable to communicate with the consumer about PC's, well just give it up when it comes to Mac.

I've personally sold at least 4 iPods just walking past salespeople trying to bumble their way through an iPod question

With that said, I'm in the market for a G5 and if Best Buy is still selling them in a couple of months, I will buy the machine from them as their warranty/return policy is MUCH more liberal than Apple's. I've neard too many horror stories about G5 returns - and one of my closest firneds manages a store in Virginia.

I think it would be a good move for the relationship between Apple and Best Buy to end.

Just my worthless two cents!

[bousozoku]

Best Buy couldn't be much worse than CompUSA. Generally, every worker in the computer areas is just an order taker anyway. Micro Center is probably the only chain store selling computers where the people working there actually know computers.

I feel bad for the people at Best Buy and CompUSA. They must be constantly hounded by managers to push things, even when the customers don't need them. There could be no incentive to be your best or to know the most.

I thought that Apple was going to put their own people in the stores but they've even been bad about that in CompUSA stores here lately.

[Koodauw]

Originally Posted by achmafooma

I don't know, I just can't figure why Best Buy's people are so intent on selling Windows PCs even to people who come in with an inclination toward a Mac. If Macs were given a fair treatment by the sales people, I think a lot more would be puchased.

I think alot of it stems from a lack of knowledge. There is alot of difference in the hardware and software on the two platforms. BBY sells alot more Windows machines, and thus the employees feel more comfortable in selling them. It is alot easier to sell what you know vs. what you don't. If you got someone in there to get them the info, I bet things would go alot better. Not an apple rep, beacuase then they would just rely on them all the time, but actually train the employees. If you had a training session with some cool stuff to give away, I bet that would make a world of difference. Just my thoughts.

[IJ Reilly]

Conversation overheard at local Best Buy:

Best Buy customer: "I'd like to look at the Macs."

Best Buy salesperson: "Your body is incompatible with the Mac. You need eleven fingers and an eyeball in the middle of your forehead."

[stingerman]

Best Buy is a terrible experience for both Mac and Window's PC purchases. If you need sales help, forget best buy. What Best Buy is good at is selling no brainer devices that require no sales help. Apple would be better off expanding their retail store presence; there is nothing like an Apple Store experience. You go there, use their internet cafe, listen to the seminars, get specialized help from the genius bar. I even see Windows PC users taking their notebooks in there for the Wireless access and to follow along on the seminars where a Windows version of the software exists.

Once you start going to an Apple store it is hard not to go back. It's a great experience.