No Apple Store Black Friday deals?

[Nightrich]

I checked my email this morning and didn't see the usual Black Friday offering from Apple and I can't find anything about it online. This is the only store imI have gift cards to so however small the discount I was waiting for their offer before I bought my Apple Watch.

Does anyone know where I can find info for this?

 

[udflyer]

Seriously?

I realize the $100 gift card of the past was usually comical but still.


They used to have the gift card plus add a few of the most popular custom build options in stock so you could get it next day......


Just surprised...


(or maybe I am blind and missed it on their website)

 

[skwood]

No Black Friday this year but I'm not surprised, they have been scaling back these kinds of promotions. Even back to school was reduced this year. 12 Days of free stuff also went away and the Free Single of the Week so it's the trend. Maybe they will something for Christmas? (other than the extended return policy)

 

[udflyer]

I remember a day where IBM thought they were invincible.......

Not a good consumer move at all...all of it, back to school. 12 days, Black Friday....

 

[Nightrich]

I am not shocked that they've done this but fairly surprised. I agree it's a bad move for consumers. I mean I was going to buy one at the Apple Store (Apple Watch) solely for the reason that I had gift cards there and I was going to wait until Black Friday knowing that their offer would be small comparatively. But to not have any offer? Not even an iTunes gift card? Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[aristobrat]

Looks like Apple is being like REI and giving their folks a break from the madness. At least Apple is open today -- REI is closed today.

Regarding Black Friday, a retail tradition that Apple largely dropped last year, Ahrendts explained that Apple backed away from the annual tradition because “being good to your employees will always be good for business.”

http://9to5mac.com/2015/11/09/angela-ahrendts-email/

 

[joepunk]

I miss those days and the days when they would have goodies at the stores for when they open up for releases of OS or something. Would wait in line for either an iTunes card or be the one who won a mac.

I haven't visited an Apple store in years.

 

[Essenar]

As someone with insider knowledge on the retail Apple climate, there might be a reason behind this.
Apple struck a "retail" closed door deal with Best Buy in the summer this year which resulted in Best Buy no longer offering their in-house "protection plans" for MacBooks and instead selling AppleCare for Apple products as partners.

Now, clearly this is a huge plus for Apple. Sure, Best Buy makes a margin of profit for each Apple Care sale since AppleCare itself is marked up. But think about the profit Best Buy made from their in-house plans. Their in-house plans covered accidental damage from drops and liquids, which Apple Care doesn't anymore but their plans had much more mark-up for BBY profit.

Apple had to offer Best Buy something for this deal. The extent of my knowledge on the deal ends with the retail climate. I have no idea how this worked out at the corporate level, but I'd have to imagine Best Buy asked Apple to ease up on its student deals/BF deals so that Best Buy can be one of the strongest sellers during holiday and special events.

I do know that there were a few casualties to this deal: You can no longer get protection of any kind on Beats products, regardless of where you purchase them. There's no Apple Care for Beats and no BBY plans for Beats because they're officially an Apple product and part of the protection agreement.

Before any of you criticize Best Buy, understand that Best Buy has been doing everything in its power to stay relevant in the Amazon/Internet shopping era. And they've been pretty successful at it: They've price matched online vendors, offered coupons that bring Apple products below online prices, they managed to keep B&M employees at above minimum wage without a commission based earnings summary, they still let consumers return things without a restocking fee, all while still earning enough profit to keep the B&M location down the street from you so you can do "in store pickup" and not have to wait for shipping. Best Buy and Apple did this so that you get the exact same purchasing power at BBY that you do at Apple and you don't get confused about dilution of product coverage, but Best Buy lost a complete profit channel in its plans for Apple so they had to get something in return.

 

[TechZeke]

I actually took advantage of this year to buy my iPad Air 2. Gave the $50 gift card to a cousin for Christmas. Every Target, Best Buy, Online store, etc was sold out of the iPad Air 2 I wanted(SG, 64GB) so I just went to the Apple Store.

 

[larmende]

I remember a day where IBM thought they were invincible.......

Not a good consumer move at all...all of it, back to school. 12 days, Black Friday....

IBM still had to compete with other PC manufacturers. Apple doesn't have a competitor selling the same products. Of course, you can buy similar products from Samsung, Microsoft, Dell, ... , but they don't have to price fight on Apple products to stay competitive. Even if you go to Best Buy or PC World (here in the UK) you still buy their product anyway.

And $100/£100 is not swinging me to buy a PC instead of a Mac.



The company I work for discounted today. And the reason is our competitors all discounted, and I work in a price market, stack them high, sell them cheap. Premium doesn't need to discount.

One of my favourite marketing quotes: "Discount is the tax on a brand for being unremarkable"

 

[udflyer]

IBM still had to compete with other PC manufacturers. Apple doesn't have a competitor selling the same products. Of course, you can buy similar products from Samsung, Microsoft, Dell, ... , but they don't have to price fight on Apple products to stay competitive. Even if you go to Best Buy or PC World (here in the UK) you still buy their product anyway.

And $100/£100 is not swinging me to buy a PC instead of a Mac.



The company I work for discounted today. And the reason is our competitors all discounted, and I work in a price market, stack them high, sell them cheap. Premium doesn't need to discount.

One of my favourite marketing quotes: "Discount is the tax on a brand for being unremarkable"

Look, I LOOOOVE Apple. My family has all Mac products, iPhones and I convinced my in-laws to do the same. With that said, if we want apple to do better, competition is a great thing. I am rooting for Microsoft.

What Apple has is their ecosystem. As closed as it is...

The most competitive ecosystem IMO is Amazon. They have our credit cards, our shopping, they try with the Kindle. If a PC manufacturers lines up with Amazon's ecosystem, creates a great product, things could get interesting.

With regards to retail..(all of this is IMO)
1. Apple totally botched the Macbook and Watch release when for the 1st time ever with the Macbook, Best Buy had the product in store before Apple Store. Then, apple's retail leader says they want to push online. I'm fine with that as well, other than it would be nice to know your strategy before the launch, not weeks after.
2. Ipad Pro - I was lucky and had my company get me one. I bought my own accessories. It was almost impossible to find the Pencil and Keyboard. Really ??
3. IMO they are cannoboilizing their own Markets with iPad Pro, MBA, Macbook ? Which is for what ? Tim Cook on record saying iPad Pro and phone for him ? Really? iOS needs a major change ion that is to be real....

Like I said, I am a HUGE fanboy, but Apple is really starting to tick off a lot of fanboys lately, myself included.


I realize these are all 1st world problems.... Happy Holidays everyone

 

[Evertype]

What a pity for those of us living outside the US, far from a BestBuy.

 

[rayjay3636]

LOL - Apple dont need to have a sale

 

[Larry-K]

Apple's sales have been getting progressively lamer anyway.

I think they just got tired of all the criticism we heaped on them for pathetic Black Friday Sales in the past.

 

[killawat]

I'm pretty annoyed that there wasn't anything but since I won't expect anything in future years they just won't be on my radar. They ultimately win anyway. I'll still wait in line for the new macbook pro released next year. OH WAIT Angela said she doesn't want anymore lines at the store. I know burberry never had lines or non-outlet sales but Apple isn't about designer handbags. Why get rid of everything that worked before for this brand new tranquil experience.To get the iPhone 7 we will each need to send letters explaining why we deserve the new phone, and only then will we have the opportunity to have it shipped to our homes. First come first serve is for the birds. It really seems like she's trying to do everything possible to keep people out of her stores, and it seems to be working.

 

[aristobrat]

OH WAIT Angela said she doesn't want anymore lines at the store.

The few articles about this that I read were opinion pieces based on leaked copies of her memo to employees regarding how best to help customers during the Watch and MacBook launches (both of which had amazingly limited in-store inventory). Have you seen any direct quotes from her on this being her go-foward approach?

To get the iPhone 7 we will each need to send letters explaining why we deserve the new phone, and only then will we have the opportunity to have it shipped to our homes. First come first serve is for the birds.

Maybe I'm missing your point, but isn't lining up at the store for a launch also first come first serve?

 

[26139]

I am not shocked that they've done this but fairly surprised. I agree it's a bad move for consumers. I mean I was going to buy one at the Apple Store (Apple Watch) solely for the reason that I had gift cards there and I was going to wait until Black Friday knowing that their offer would be small comparatively. But to not have any offer? Not even an iTunes gift card? Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

It leaves a bad taste in your mouth that you weren't able to buy items at a discount from a company you're already a fan of?

You DO realize that companies have sales to attract NEW customers, not to save existing customers money, right?

 

[savoirfaire]

As someone with insider knowledge on the retail Apple climate, there might be a reason behind this.
Apple struck a "retail" closed door deal with Best Buy in the summer this year which resulted in Best Buy no longer offering their in-house "protection plans" for MacBooks and instead selling AppleCare for Apple products as partners.

Now, clearly this is a huge plus for Apple. Sure, Best Buy makes a margin of profit for each Apple Care sale since AppleCare itself is marked up. But think about the profit Best Buy made from their in-house plans. Their in-house plans covered accidental damage from drops and liquids, which Apple Care doesn't anymore but their plans had much more mark-up for BBY profit.

Apple had to offer Best Buy something for this deal. The extent of my knowledge on the deal ends with the retail climate. I have no idea how this worked out at the corporate level, but I'd have to imagine Best Buy asked Apple to ease up on its student deals/BF deals so that Best Buy can be one of the strongest sellers during holiday and special events.

I do know that there were a few casualties to this deal: You can no longer get protection of any kind on Beats products, regardless of where you purchase them. There's no Apple Care for Beats and no BBY plans for Beats because they're officially an Apple product and part of the protection agreement.

Before any of you criticize Best Buy, understand that Best Buy has been doing everything in its power to stay relevant in the Amazon/Internet shopping era. And they've been pretty successful at it: They've price matched online vendors, offered coupons that bring Apple products below online prices, they managed to keep B&M employees at above minimum wage without a commission based earnings summary, they still let consumers return things without a restocking fee, all while still earning enough profit to keep the B&M location down the street from you so you can do "in store pickup" and not have to wait for shipping. Best Buy and Apple did this so that you get the exact same purchasing power at BBY that you do at Apple and you don't get confused about dilution of product coverage, but Best Buy lost a complete profit channel in its plans for Apple so they had to get something in return.

I was going to buy an off-contract iPhone 6S Plus (128gb) from Best Buy so I could get points for it, but it turns out that they want $50 more than the Apple Store! $999 at Best Buy vs. $949 at Apple. Guess I'll stick to the Apple Store for that purchase.

 

[Nightrich]

It leaves a bad taste in your mouth that you weren't able to buy items at a discount from a company you're already a fan of?

You DO realize that companies have sales to attract NEW customers, not to save existing customers money, right?

Someone's in a bad mood this morning! You didn't quite get that I was simply disappointed that they had no sale or iTunes card bundle because that was the only retail store that I had multiple gift cards for.

You DO realize you that you have something to look forward to though, right? All of the other posts on this forum that you can troll!

Try adding something new next time. And by the way, I actually do hope you have had a Happy Thanksgiving

 

[MRrainer]

Who waits for a 50$ or 100$ rebate to buy a 1500$ product?
At least, Apple won't have to deal with returns from people with post-BF-remorse...

 

[Nightrich]

Who waits for a 50$ or 100$ rebate to buy a 1500$ product?
At least, Apple won't have to deal with returns from people with post-BF-remorse...

I didn't mind waiting two weeks for potentially $50 off of a $350 product. Roughly 14%.

 

[aristobrat]

I was going to buy an off-contract iPhone 6S Plus (128gb) from Best Buy so I could get points for it, but it turns out that they want $50 more than the Apple Store! $999 at Best Buy vs. $949 at Apple. Guess I'll stick to the Apple Store for that purchase.

The last time I got a phone at Best Buy, they price-matched it with the price the Apple Store was selling it for. Might be worth seeing if they still do that.