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Apple Seeking to Bring Store-Within-a-Store Concept to Sam's Club?

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Apr 12, 2001
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9to5Mac reports that Apple is in "early discussions" with Sam's Club to bring the Apple store-within-a-store concept to the popular warehouse club chain that operates as a division of Walmart.
Sam's Club and Apple are not only in early discussions for the Apple store-in-store program, but a backup plan is also being discussed. This plan consists of Sam's Club simply selling Apple's Macs, but without the Apple Store features. Since the discussions are still early, sources could not comment on a timeframe for such partnerships, but we know the store-in-stores will likely not be coming soon--or at all if the discussions fall flat. While Sam's Club is said to be considered, it is unknown if its parent company Walmart is, too.
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Apple has operated its store-within-a-store concept in partnership with Best Buy for a number of years and appears to be working hard to expand that program with Target confirming a pilot program to bring Apple shops to 25 of its stores and Apple reportedly looking to open a location inside London's famous Harrods department store.

The scope of any Sam's Club move for Apple seems unclear, as the original report claims that Apple would bring the shops to "the 47 United States retail warehouse chain locations", while Sam's Club actually operates over 600 U.S. stores. The warehouse chain has been a preferred partner for Apple, carrying a number of iPhone, iPad, and iPod models and serving as a launch-day partner for both the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.

Article Link: Apple Seeking to Bring Store-Within-a-Store Concept to Sam's Club?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/07/apple-seeking-to-bring-store-within-a-store-concept-to-sams-club/
The last time I saw a Macintosh in Sam's Club was the late 90's when the first models of candy-colored iMac G3 models were in the store. I remember walking up to a Lime and Tangerine iMac boxes and being so excited. We never got one, but I still remember seeing it in the store. :)

This would be an interesting concept to explore. Sam's Club is known for it's 'club discount' so it would also be interesting to see how cheap they could sell Apple's products for. Probably only a few dollars under the retail price, or by bundling in items. But hey a few bucks is a few bucks...
 
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The real question is how are people going to fit those mega-size packs of iPads and iMacs into those shopping carts?
 
Nice. They already sell the iPod/iPhone stuff there. I think the iPad is there too, along with iTunes gift cards. If they would offer Mac computers there, I'd buy... just to save the $3 or whatever the ridiculous discount is. Apple stuff isn't slashed much at Sam's Awesome Club.
 
...and people complain about Best Buy selling Macs? I can't wait for the complaints to start rolling on over customer service from Sam's.
 
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This would be awesome. I'm in SAMs once a week.
 
The biggest issue I see is that SAM's club doesn't take Credit Cards. They only take Discover and Debit Cards, or their own internal card.... When selling products in the Thousands of dollars, they will be severely limiting individuals by not allowing them to use Credit.
 
emaja said:
...and people complain about Best Buy selling Macs? I can't wait for the complaints to start rolling on over customer service from Sam's.
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Exactly!

The only reason the Lime and Tangerine iMac's were there, as LimeiBook86 stated, is because no one wanted those colors. Back in those days CompUSA was terrible and only had Lime and Tangerine ones, later Circuit City only had the leftover colors no one wanted - Blue Dalmatian anyone?
 
thatisme said:
The biggest issue I see is that SAM's club doesn't take Credit Cards. They only take Discover and Debit Cards, or their own internal card.... When selling products in the Thousands of dollars, they will be severely limiting individuals by not allowing them to use Credit.
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I believe they take Master Card. Found the following to confirm.

Payment options
Sam's Club locations accept Sam's Club and Wal-mart Credit Cards,[21] Discover Card, MasterCard,[22] debit cards (PIN-based, except MasterCard, which also can be signature-based), Wal-mart and Sam's Club gift cards, cash or checks.[23] As of March 2009 EBT SNAP benefits are accepted.[24][25] MasterCard was added as an option on November 9, 2006. Visa credit cards are still not accepted, except at gas stations, because of the high processing fees compared with Wal-mart's discounted rates with Mastercard,[26] although in the past it was accepted during testing periods.[27] However Visa debit cards are accepted at some clubs. American Express is not accepted. Their online website, samsclub.com, accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover Card.[28]
 
Will ladies in hair nets be offering free samples of Apple products on the weekends?
 
Not feeling it.

I'm not really feeling the fact that you can now buy everything at Walmart or Sams/etc. This will eventually lead to death of competition.
 
I really enjoy my Apple products. Although I appreciate being able to find accessories for them at most places, I do not expect, nor desire, the actual devices to be available at all locations. Part of the appeal is that their presentation is consistent. I don't think licensing so many locations to carry the products keeps them in the appropriate light.

If I have to take the opposite route, they are integrated into so many people's lives it only makes sense that they be readily available. I still prefer to experience the environment of an Apple store when making a purchase.
 
IMO, this is a bad idea... Walmart already has their whole electronic department being ran by high school drop outs who dont know the difference between a PCI card vs PCIe.. Given, SAM's might be a little better, is it still a sister company of Walmart... Now, maybe Costco? Every time i stop by there, the workers seem to have some idea of what their selling.... Idk, i hope Apple thinks this one out completely.. You just cant compare the customer service from Apple to SAM's AKA Walmart...
 
Considering Wal-Mart and Sam's Club are in the same arena, I find it disappointing that Wal-Mart still has iPhone 3GS on displays when that phone isn't even a currently free model.
 
How many people are going to buy a $1,700, 13" laptop from Sam's Club?

Apple needs to seriously re-think their sub-$1,000 Mac strategy if they want to sell them in a warehouse store. Otherwise, it will only be phones and iPads.
 
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