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CompUSA advertising BOOT CAMP and "PCRS" stories

M

MacQuest

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 18, 2003
902
0
You See Dead People...
ONE MORE THING:

I was looking into a "price-match" with a couple of other computer stores, and I noticed that CompUSA is advertising Boot Camp right smack in the middle of BOTH their desktop AND notebook online store webpages!!!

Desktops: http://www.compusa.com/products/products.asp?N=200005&Ne=200000

NoteBooks: http://www.compusa.com/products/products.asp?N=200334&Ne=200000

TALK ABOUT PUBLICITY!!!

Due to this, I'm sure I'll begin to hear more about the PCRS (PC Returning Switchers) movement. :)

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/192442/
 
Hmmm... not sure what I did at first. I got the "page not found" errors also. So I just went back to CompUSA's site and copy/pasted the links into my original post.

Links are working now. :)
 
Not surprised, everyone is jumping on the wagon to get their share of the buzz ;)
 
Platform said:
Not surprised, everyone is jumping on the wagon to get their share of the buzz ;)
Click to expand...

Yup. :)

What struck me as funny though, is that an internationally known and established, major computer reseller [primarily winBlows] like CompUSA [no matter what you may think of them ;) ] would prominently feature/advertise a free piece of beta Mac software that could very well diminish/kill the sells of their higher profit margin peecees, in favor of practically no profit/low margin Macintosh computers.

Looks like they may be embracing the "Taco Bell Theory" of business. Take less profit initially, and make it up in volume later. ;)

Nothing wrong with that though. That "Taco Bell Theory" is why we consumers now have 99 cent menus at practically every fast food restaurant, and their all making money regardless.
 
I think you have the profit margin figured backwards. Margins for both manufacturers and retailers on pc's are extremely slim, but the profit margin on Apple computers is much bigger (at least for Apple, and I expect for the reseller as well). CompUSA probably makes very little on pc sales, but makes up for it in volume. If they could increase their Apple sales, with higher margins, they could make much more money. So it makes perfect sense to me that they are advertising boot Camp.
 
CompUSA could benefit from the increase purchases of Windows XP (Full Retail) along with many games and utilities from the Mac crowd. I was surprised I forked over $300 dollars for XP. It runs faster than any desktop PC that I ever had.
 
danny_w said:
I think you have the profit margin figured backwards. Margins for both manufacturers and retailers on pc's are extremely slim, but the profit margin on Apple computers is much bigger (at least for Apple, and I expect for the reseller as well).
Click to expand...

It is pretty common knowledge in retail, but I can tell you for a fact that Apple products carry much more margin - profit - than any other PC for the reseller. They are also "price locked" by Apple which means that an Authorized Apple Reseller cannot sell - or at least advertise - for less than the MSRP. I know places like MacMall do, but we are talking about a few bucks and Amazon has rebates, but the out the door price is basically the same everywhere.

Margin on most PCs is about 3-5% where on Apple products - including iPods it is closer to 15-20%.

I have inside sources and no, I won't tell you where.
 
Sweet, I dislike CompUSA right now though. They got a 30" ACD who someone punched and they don't care about it, along with a 1.25GHz eMac, like 2 years old. :rolleyes:
 
MacQuest said:
Yup. :)

What struck me as funny though, is that an internationally known and established, major computer reseller [primarily winBlows] like CompUSA [no matter what you may think of them ;) ] would prominently feature/advertise a free piece of beta Mac software that could very well diminish/kill the sells of their higher profit margin peecees, in favor of practically no profit/low margin Macintosh computers.
Click to expand...
If you follow the link, it takes you to a mirror of Apple's Boot Camp pages. This makes sense since CompUSA has Apple "stores-within-stores", ie. a section set aside for Apple hardware/software, which is almost independent of the main store (I think they even have Apple employees in some places).

No matter how much their store-within-a-store sucks (my local CompUSA got Intel iMacs only a couple of weeks ago) it did give me my first extensive experience of using Macs (albeit only 10 minutes a couple of times a month), and it's closer than the nearest Apple store.
 
The condition of the apple store within compusa really just depends if there is an apple rep in it. I was helping some friends do a laptop reset in a different compusa than he normally works in and he just scored a g4 17 inch 1ghz imac for 50 bucks BRAN NEW. It was just tossed in the back and he found it while while checking the system for discounted stuff. I pretty much hate him right now. My other friend is getting a 17 inch cinema dispay for 30 bucks :mad:
 
Boot camp = Switch 2.0

dornoforpyros said:
wierd, I would think telling the average consumer that you can "dual boot into XP or OS X via Boot Camp loader" would scare them away.
Click to expand...

Nah. It's the whole "Now when you buy a Mac, you're getting 2 computers for the price of 1... and the Mac doesn't suck", that gets them everytime.

The best part is telling them that they can run winBlows if they absolutely need too, but that most people find they don't have to at all. The object is to get them to buy the Mac and try it out, and then they'll find out for themselves that Macs are better and that they really don't need winBlows, which they were told from the beginning.

Apple's Boot Camp [and virtualization technology applications] marks the introduction of Switch 2.0, a whole new wave of Switchers that builds on the original Switch '02 advertising campaign and the base of switchers who have built up since then.
 
Looks like Compusa has everyone beat. This picture of a hp laptop is shown on their in-store ad, 1st page I believe. $800.00 for a hp that runs os X isn't too bad.

060409_P01_1_1.JPG
 
irmongoose said:
Well as that BootCamp page is within the Brand Showcase section and they're using a mirror of Apple's page, I'm pretty sure Apple has paid CompUSA for the whole publicity.
Click to expand...

Since I didn't click on the links at first, I thought they would just link to Apple's Boot Camp page. Having just clicked on them though, i just realized that they actually link to a CompUSA web page that has the same info as the Boot camp page.

xli_ne said:
Looks like Compusa has everyone beat. This picture of a hp laptop is shown on their in-store ad, 1st page I believe. $800.00 for a hp that runs os X isn't too bad.

060409_P01_1_1.JPG
Click to expand...

HA!!!

THAT'S HILARIOUS!!!
 
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