Apple Store Remains Most Popular Destination to Purchase a Mac in the United States

[MacRumors]

Apple Stores continue to be the most popular destination to purchase a new Mac in the United States, according to a recent survey conducted by research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

Apple's retail locations and online store accounted for roughly 40 percent of Mac sales between October 2016 and September 2017, based on 2,000 survey respondents who purchased a Mac during that period.

When the first Apple Stores opened in 2001, Apple was still known as Apple Computer, and the Mac was its primary product. Nowadays, of course, there is the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and beyond.

"Since Apple designed its stores originally to promote Mac computers, it is not surprising that that they continue to account for roughly 40 percent of Mac sales," said Josh Lowitz, co-founder of Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

While it's generally unsurprising that Apple is the most popular Mac retailer, given it creates the computers, it is still notable given there are often better deals available from third-party resellers like B&H and MacMall.

By comparison, the survey found only around 20 percent of iPads and 10 percent of iPhones were sold directly by Apple.

"Best Buy actually sells more iPads than Apple," added Lowitz. "And, carrier stores have become a significant retailer of tablets."

In terms of the iPhone, Apple had the lowest share of iPhone sales in the 12 months ending September 2017. Roughly 77 percent of customers made their purchase through a carrier like Verizon or AT&T, according to CIRP.

The research firm said sales can fluctuate based on the timing of product launches and during the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons.

Article Link: Apple Store Remains Most Popular Destination to Purchase a Mac in the United States

 

[macTW]

For my friends and I, it’s the easiest place. Best Buy, for example, doesn’t even list the GPU on their macs, let alone can offer customized configurations.

 

[SAIRUS]

Online tax free is the way to go, unless you get an education/corporate discount.

 

[imran5720]

see what good Staff training can achieve

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

My Apple buying habits definitely do not match this distribution, except for the iPad:

(New) Mac: B&H, all the way! (awesome Black Friday deals ever. And no taxes to boot.)
(BTO) Mac: Apple (full retail+taxes, sigh)
iPad: BestBuy (Black Friday)
iPhone: Apple (cash and carry, unlocked)

Just my own ways to feed Cook's insatiable bounty, while minimizing hurt.

 

[SeminalSage]

I would disagree that other retailers have the best prices. Especially if you get the education discount (and the Barclay Card financing/rewards program on top of that).

 

[nickhutson]

John Lewis/Peter Jones is the best place here in the UK as you get a longer guarantee on Apple products than you would from just getting them from the Apple shop.

 

[Hater]

I actively avoid it, too busy.

End up in there anyway, a lot of the time i'll buy water damaged phones off eBay and pay the out-of-warranty repair price when I need a new phone and it works out cheaper that way.

 

[killawat]

Word on the street is that apple allows big box resellers (B&H, Best Buy etc) to give discounts so they don't have to do it in their own store. Gotta keep up with the appearance. No one will ever have to pay retail for a MacBook Air as long as Best Buy is in existence.

 

[NinjaHERO]

While I prefer to order my Apple products online and have them delivered, I do love knowing there is always a store nearby if I have any issues. Apple's customer service is one of the big reasons I stay loyal.

 

[Glideslope]

Agreed. I order large items online and pick up at my Brick and Mortar. Too many issues with things being left without a signature these days. It's also close which is nice.

 

[monkieboy99]

People are purchasing through the carriers because carriers offer more for a trade-in than Apple does.

 

[BeefCake 15]

Online tax free is the way to go, unless you get an education/corporate discount.

Apple taxes you based on the shipping destination state tax rate.

 

[BrettApple]

Never even been to an Apple Store. Mostly because there isn’t one around me for hundreds of miles. So Best Buy it is as we have a couple of those.

Slightly surprising as the population of the metro area here is 645,000. But not enough for Apple I suppose. Gotta be in the millions?

I’ve only purchased two Mac’s for myself in the last 10 years as I get a lot of life out of them (my 2007 iMac is still in use after all) but from here on out and for business use I use B&H largely.

 

[Pman17]

I always order my Macs custom from the Apple Store. I make sure I have my RAM maxed out so it will last.

 

[convergent]

The US carrier metric is interesting to me. I never bought an iPhone anywhere but the Apple Store, and I've probably bought a dozen of them. When I recently bought my Note 8, I asked the AT&T person what percentage of their phone sales were iPhones vs. Samsung, and she said it was about 50/50. Given that I seem to see way more iPhones in hands of people I know, I reasoned that a LOT of the iPhones were being sold in the Apple Store. This seems to tell a different story.

 

[B4U]

I would still shop at the Exchange if I am not customizing it, since that helps our Exchange to stay open and it is always tax free.

 

[lcseds]

I prefer to deal with Apple directly in case I want to return something. Many other venders will give you grief on a return. Apple is no problem.

 

[recoil80]

In EU we get 24 months of warranty, the first year from the vendor and the second one from the retailer. Buying online or in an AS means you get the second year of warranty from Apple itself and that's convenient.
So unless you can find a good deal from a retailer AS is the obvious choice here, but if you can find a good discount elsewhere and its more than of the cost of AC (which gives you 3 years of warranty) the retailer is the better choice.
One of the biggest retailer in Italy is offering a EUR 500 discount on the rMBP 13 tomorrow, and last week we had almost EUR 1000 discount on the maxed out 15'' with touch bar, you have to be quick since they sell 1000 Macs in the entire country, but if you are lucky and patient you can find pretty nice deals.

 

[kazmac]

Macs: Once Apple puts SSDs standard in their desktops, I'll look elsewhere to buy (Best Buy.) Since the late 90s all of my iMac were Apple, except for this 27" at B&H.

iPads: Apple, except for iPad 2 (Best Buy.) No more for me.

iPhones; Apple. Carriers are a royal pain. I want the option to buy up front without bs haggling.

 

[Clix Pix]

I have bought most of my Apple products at the Apple store, and when I order a BTO Mac I have it shipped to the store for pickup there -- much safer (I live in an apartment) and convenient if I also want to look at and buy additional items at the same time. A couple of times I did buy my iPhone at the AT&T store when they had the model/color/capacity available and the Apple store didn't. I also appreciate the convenience of the Genius Bar at the Apple store, although thankfully I have not had to take advantage of that program too often!

 

[obiwan]

And in other news... McDonalds is the most popular destination to purchase a Big Mac.

 

[44267547]

I prefer to deal with Apple directly in case I want to return something. Many other venders will give you grief on a return. Apple is no problem.

This. I prefer to go to the source Themself. I just find it easier and way more convenient to deal with Apple direct. There customer service is a big contributor with their product line.

 

[mcfrazieriv]

Oh Really? I thought the Microsoft store had the highest Mac sales out of all of them. This is a big surprise to me. Sure glad I clicked on this post really written by a blogger on Apple's payroll pushing the Mac.

 

[Bacillus]

Ehh, on more in-depth inspection: those lines at the entrance are screen repair queues.
Soon to be double lanes for glass backside anomalies.
Thanks Joni (on behalf of Angela)