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Dell Following Apple's Retail Example?
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andiwm2003
macrumors 601
pjkelnhofer said:
when i was young computers where grown on trees and you had to climb up to get them. but then apple invented the retail store......
but seriously, i prefer to go to a store, have a reasonable selection of gadgets around to see and try them. then i want to buy them right away and take them home. i'm also willing to pay a few percent more for the service. apple actually made a old concept work.
i hope dell does the same and i hope they do it well. because i'm sick of the low quality dirty compUSA's or Best Buy's with their clueless staff and their outdated broken and dirty display units.
supremedesigner
macrumors 65816
andiwm2003 said:
LOL!!! That last paragraph is so funny! That's true. I asked them "Do you have Apple LCD" and they were like "uhhh.. the what?" They're so dumb!
Apple computers are sold with the knowledge that they will need to sell them with a 20% or more profit margin. Dell doesn't have close to these margins, even with all the cost-cutting they do, making it nearly impossible they will ever get profit from these stores.
theBB
macrumors 68020
Sony stores are almost the same. Even though they have some cool looking and extremely expensive "movie theater at home" setups to watch, there is almost nobody around to actually ask questions. A third of the computers display error messages only. No wonder... The store is made to just display the products only. They don't expect to make money on the store, so they cannot judge the success of the store manager based on profits. Eventually the store gets dull, but nobody highup will notice the difference.cxny said:
It is still Apple Lite.
To me, driving to an Apple store is a religious event. With 2 stores either 2 1/2 hours or 3 hours away from where I live, not including the new Manhattan store, I look forward to my twice a year pilgramage. I doubt I would travel that same 3 hours, with a Dell store in West Nyack, NY at the Palisades Mall (an Apple store at the same location) to browse and leave emtpy handed. I could walk into my local Worst Buy and Idiot City to get the feel of a Windblowz PC. Why bother filling my gas tank twice for such a trip?
It has been too long since I walked into a local store and bought my first Apple computer, Apple IIe
If I had to wait for my new car, I could wait if it were served up in this fashion.
To me, driving to an Apple store is a religious event. With 2 stores either 2 1/2 hours or 3 hours away from where I live, not including the new Manhattan store, I look forward to my twice a year pilgramage. I doubt I would travel that same 3 hours, with a Dell store in West Nyack, NY at the Palisades Mall (an Apple store at the same location) to browse and leave emtpy handed. I could walk into my local Worst Buy and Idiot City to get the feel of a Windblowz PC. Why bother filling my gas tank twice for such a trip?
It has been too long since I walked into a local store and bought my first Apple computer, Apple IIe
If I had to wait for my new car, I could wait if it were served up in this fashion.
macEfan said:
No Gateway tried to open 300+ stores in a short period of time, there's no reason to beliecve that Dell is trying to do the same.
ManchesterTrix said:
300 stores certainly didn't help, but I don't think it really hurt them. The biggest thing that will hurt is being unable to walk out of their with a computer. If I want a PC, I'll go to my local Worst Buy or Jerkit City for instant gratification, not order it at a Dell store and wait who knows how long for it to be delivered.
Analog Kid
macrumors G3
I guess they shouldn't call it a store. Perhaps an "order center" or "service depot".TheMasin9 said:
However, I have a suggestion for Dell. Since they have nothing to sell in the stores, they should sell iPods. Apple would give them a cut and all the people who wander in hoping to walk out with a purchase would be satisfied, even if they didn't want to buy a Dell computer. Everyone wins!
BlueCynicalMoon said:If I had to wait for my new car, I could wait if it were served up in this fashion.
Where the heck is this? 😕
Analog Kid
macrumors G3
I've been thinking about this more and I'm thinking this idea is worse and worse for Dell... Why the physical presence? So people can touch their stuff-- give it a feeling of realness.
Here's the rub though-- nobody buys a Dell because of how it looks and feels. They buy them because they're cheap. Once you can touch them and feel them, they're much less desirable.
Imagine a place you could go to look at Big Macs. Not the nice studio pictures they have hanging on the menus, but the real deal, sitting in their little flip-top boxes on a show floor. You get to pick it up and look at it after a hundred other people have that day. Flip it over, look inside. Can't eat it though-- no matter how hungry you are.
How many people would leave that place and then drive all the way across town to order a new Big Mac through a squawk box?
Here's the rub though-- nobody buys a Dell because of how it looks and feels. They buy them because they're cheap. Once you can touch them and feel them, they're much less desirable.
Imagine a place you could go to look at Big Macs. Not the nice studio pictures they have hanging on the menus, but the real deal, sitting in their little flip-top boxes on a show floor. You get to pick it up and look at it after a hundred other people have that day. Flip it over, look inside. Can't eat it though-- no matter how hungry you are.
How many people would leave that place and then drive all the way across town to order a new Big Mac through a squawk box?
One thing the Dell stores will have the Apple's stores do not: A kick ***, high performance gaming notebook.
Apple, please create a Macbook Gamer notebook with a top-of-the-line graphics processor. Obviously, the demand for gaming notebooks is growing and serious gamers would not mind an extra half-an-inch if the design was solid. In fact, if Apple designed a gaming notebook, I expect the Apple's winning design and the ability to dual-boot would make it the #1 gaming notebook on the market.
I expect the Dell XPS notebooks will do quite well at these stores, once people get their hands on them. Don't get me wrong, Macbooks Pros are great, but the x1600 (which is the highest performance GPU Apple could fit in the ultra-thin Macbook Pro) just isn't going to cut it for hardcore gamers when they boot up Windows on the Mac.
Apple, please create a Macbook Gamer notebook with a top-of-the-line graphics processor. Obviously, the demand for gaming notebooks is growing and serious gamers would not mind an extra half-an-inch if the design was solid. In fact, if Apple designed a gaming notebook, I expect the Apple's winning design and the ability to dual-boot would make it the #1 gaming notebook on the market.
I expect the Dell XPS notebooks will do quite well at these stores, once people get their hands on them. Don't get me wrong, Macbooks Pros are great, but the x1600 (which is the highest performance GPU Apple could fit in the ultra-thin Macbook Pro) just isn't going to cut it for hardcore gamers when they boot up Windows on the Mac.
Sky said:
VOLKSWAGEN!!!
😀
Proud owner of many. although my new jetta has a PC carputer... not a mini... sorry 🙁
generationxwing
macrumors 6502
Analog Kid
macrumors G3
Sony doesn't quite have the same humor value. Most of what Sony's done lately is kind of sad and depressing.jhu said:
Sayhey
macrumors 68000
Just to throw my two cents in this discussion, Dell maybe following Apple into two malls in which it has stores, but they haven't a clue about making a bricks-n-mortar retail strategy work. A store with no products you can buy and take home with you? Did anyone else flash on the female lead in "Forty-Year-Old Virgin"? She had the same idea. There is a reason they make fun of it in the movie - it's an incredibly stupid idea. Not that Dell could follow Apple's example - it starts with quality products. Let's hope Dell expands rapidly and ends up with huge commitments to leases that bring little return.
