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Switcherooski

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 7, 2004
7
0
Arlington, Texas, USA
What's the difference between shopping at the standard online Apple Store (which I've done several times) and shopping online at a retail Apple Store? When I visit Apple's pages for specific retail stores, there is a link to "Shop Online at <retail store name>". What benefit is there to doing that?
 

Switcherooski

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 7, 2004
7
0
Arlington, Texas, USA
miniConvert said:
Special offers/discounts/coupons maybe? Freebies? That sort of thing I'd imagine :\ Plus some people might just prefer buying from certain companies :\ Maybe :\

I'm not talking about different companies. This is all Apple. There's the Apple Store online, there's Apple retail stores, and there's the option for shopping online at an Apple retail location. Shopping online at an Apple retail store is basically the Apple online store with the retail location name displayed on the page. What's the purpose of that?
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,375
2,801
I think it's mostly designed for people custom-building Macs in-store. The store employees can assist them with the process and direct them to the page for their store to make it look like a more personalized process.

I'm just guessing here...
 

roland.g

macrumors 604
Apr 11, 2005
7,409
3,134
If someone helps you in the store and you place an order through that store's specific online store, then that store gets credit for the sale.

i.e. you bto which is not available in store but the staff there helps you configure, then the sale goes on the store's sales totals. it's a cool thing to do if you like the people at that store, but at the end of the day it really doesn't mean much and it doesn't help you at all.
 

Cameront9

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2006
954
474
I believe when you order in-store you also have option of in-store pickup as opposed to shipping straight to your house.
 

kenrobin

macrumors regular
Apr 15, 2006
106
0
San Francisco Bay Area
I was told that a benefit to ordering from the online store while inside of an Apple retail store is that the order que is shorter. When you order through the online store while at home, your order is placed at the end of the line of all the other people ordering from home. On the other hand, ordering online inside of a retail store places you in a different que of only those people who have ordered online from the same retail store. Thus the que is shorter and you should receive your order quicker.

This is what I was told at the Simi Valley, CA store when I asked about the availability of the bluetooth mouse. They recommended that I order it online from inside the store instead of ordering from home.
 
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