Sales of Apple Products Down 20% at Target

[hawkeye_a]

I dont want an Apple car, or an Apple Watch, or any wearables, or pencils, or oversized phones.

Apple has more people working for them now than they ever did. WTH are they doing? They cant even upgrade their Mac hardware regularly. The iPhone is prolly going to stick with a 2 year old design. They didn't even bother upgrading the iPadAir2 last year. MacOS' biggest new feature is Siri which debuted 5 years ago on the iPhone, and iOS' biggest change in 9 years was a new theme which made the OS look "clownish".

Good grief. /endrant

I miss Steve.

 

[michaelflynn]

Does anyone even shop at Target any longer? Every since they decided to become verbally political the one near me is almost vacant most of the time. I wonder if this may be contributing to the down sales. Few customers at the store= fewer items sold.

Sick eagle avatar bro.

 

[SusanK]

Sales are down on apple products at Target stores...Isheep comes out bad mouthing Target.........Why am I not surprised.

Target is good for many items. When I buy an Apple product I expect a certain level of service that is not available at Target near me. Best Buy, MicroCenter and Apple are in the same area. I buy from one of the three.

Not bad mouthing Target. It's great for my winter walk. I do the interior perimeter many times. Being in the store results in sales of other merchandise. Not Apple stuff. I have options I prefer for Apple gear.

 

[tmiw]

Hey guys, what's happeni...oh dear.

How could a thread about Target have gone so far off the rails?

 

[iZac]

This tends to happen when you push almost all of your product launches into a 2 month window at the end of the year.

Perhaps this is intentional to guarantee some stock price fluctuation seasonally and hence stimulate regular trading? I'm no economist, just a random thought.

There is just one word to describe Apple's current lineup: weak.

iPhone: 1-2 years behind, will have a similar design for 3 straight generations
iPad: nothing new here, except the ridiculously overpriced iPad Pros, that don't offer enough in terms of professionalism or productivity
MacBook: underpowered, still just 1 USB-C port, too pricy
MacBook Air: maybe the best MacBook, if it wasn't for that ancient screen technology
MacBook Pro: 15" still stuck with Haswell CPUs in 2016
Apple Watch: a first gen product that's approaching the end of its life cycle
iMac: Spinning hard drives in 2016, in machines with a 5k screen. Makes sense..
Mac mini: worse than the previous generation

I could not buy any of these Apple products with a clear conscience.
They should be happy that there's only a 20% sales drop at one retailer for now.

You forgot the Mac Pro ... just like Apple did

 

[Acorn]

No one wants stale bread at caviar prices.

Exactly. Every single one of their products is outdated. They did it to themselves.

 

[rtr1985]

What is Target? Lollllll

 

[CarlJ]

He said electronics contributed to an overall sales drop of .7%, with 1/3 due to Apple. Overall Target sales are down 1.1%, so it's ~.25% due to Apple, ~.45% due to other electronics and .4% due to everyone else.

But I'm a bit surprised to hear an obvious Apple fan criticizing Target for Apple being a big sales item at Target. I'll bet you have nothing but positive things to say about Apple's many, many billions of dollars in revenue. How do you think this happens without Apple being a huge sales contributor at major retailers?

You've decided who I am and you know how all of "those people" think, so I can be stereotyped in with all the rest of "them", eh? Thanks. I like Apple because they keep making devices and software that are useful to me, not because I joined some cult. I am interested in lines of reasoning that make sense, and dislike ones that don't. I am a proponent of logic - I will occasionally find myself telling someone, effectively, "your overall point is correct, but some of the data you're presenting to support it is flawed and wrong" - some people can't wrap their heads around that and become confused about which side I'm on.

I'm not in the slightest "criticizing Target for Apple being a big sales item" - and I'm not sure how you got that out of what I said - I'm a bit astonished to hear Target paint things that way - I would not have guessed Apple was so important to their bottom line. The story here on MacRumors makes it sound like Target's chief was saying, "Our numbers would have been great, if it weren't for that pesky Apple". Again, the quote was, "...blamed poor Apple sales for Target's disappointing Q2 earnings results". Not "sorry, our overall sales were disappointing, and Apple products were one of many contributing factors" - I'd buy that. Target sells tens of thousands of products across hundreds of categories. Is it really the case that everything else at Target was just peachy, but the sales of Apple products ruined it for everyone? Because that's what he's saying. Everything else was fine, he ran the company flawlessly, if only Apple hadn't ruined it they would have had great sales instead of disappointing sales for the quarter. That sounds a lot like throwing Apple under the bus.

 

[rgarjr]

I dont want an Apple car, or an Apple Watch, or any wearables, or pencils, or oversized phones.

Apple has more people working for them now than they ever did. WTH are they doing? They cant even upgrade their Mac hardware regularly. The iPhone is prolly going to stick with a 2 year old design. They didn't even bother upgrading the iPadAir2 last year.

Yeah I sometimes wonder what the employees do there everyday. iPads should have had a redesign to get rid of the old chamfer edge.

 

[H2SO4]

Let me think.
Target, a store that is supposedly sell more things than just Apple stuff, is blaming Apple for poor performance.
If I was a shareholder, I would vote this guy out. Clearly he is not capable in maintaining a business, and relying on a single company's (Apple) products for sales performance.

But it’s Ok when we blame a single company's (Intel) products for Mac performance?

 

[brianvictor7]

I'm shocked it was only 20% when you consider Target's selection for "electronic" items are always on clearance.. they never make their full dollar per item capa. If Target put all their eggs in one basket that is "apple" then it's their own fault! Should have had other products to push, better marketing teams and some sort of gimmick to get butts in the doors to buy items... only thing I see here is someone making excuses as to why their bottom line isn't where it was projected to be.. stock fallout? It's not going to be running for the hills horrible for 20%.. but it's going to make investors think twice about Target and their market value going forward.

Good points. So I was in a Target store last week. There were lots of Android tablets and phones for sale. There were far more non-Apple items out there. What does that say? What we've known all along: that you don't make much money from non-Apple products. Their margins just aren't big.
[doublepost=1471486046][/doublepost]

But it’s Ok when we blame a single company's (Intel) products for Mac performance?

I don't know of anyone who is blaming Intel for *all* of the Mac's performance woes. The basic form of the Macbook Pro hasn't changed in 4 years. That is Tim and Ivy's doing. They did revamp the Macbook line though, essentially giving an iPad a cool new keyboard, trackpad, USB-C, and MacOS whilst taking away the touchscreen and iOS.

 

[AxoNeuron]

NO company out there deserves this more than Apple does.

Really, Tim Cook should have been LAUGHED off the stage when he introduced the iPhone 6S/Plus would start at 16GB (!!!!) IN THE YEAR 2016! If this was...um...2011, that would have been acceptable. But this is NOT 2011. A $650 device coming with 16GB of storage is ABSOLUTELY, UNBELIEVABLY, COMPLETELY unacceptable and I am VERY glad it is hurting Apple where it hurts the most (their wallet).

This decision, to gimp an otherwise awesome phone with 2011-era levels of storage, should get people FIRED.

Samsung, HTC, and all the rest have been putting at least 32GB in their flagships....for years now. YEARS. Their AMOLED displays are far superior to that on the iPhone. And worst of all: Apple has been almost obsessively focused with making the phone thinner. At this point...no one really cares if you shave off yet another millimeter. They want battery life, higher resolution displays, more storage, etc. etc. etc.

Apple, you people really need to step your damn game up.

 

[groove-agent]

Apple's lack of innovation I agree with - they've really been asleep at the wheel since Steve Jobs. Target blaming Apple for their crappy sales is lame. Besides, working for an Apple reseller myself, the margin on their hardware is not even worth selling. You would have to make it up on accessories, or by the traffic it generates. The only one who makes money on Apple is Apple.

 

[Soccertess]

If Target want to give Customers what they want, Target should work with Samsung and others cell manufactures for the second half of 2016!!

My guess is that in September Apple will release a dud, just like Tim Cook himself. So Target should work with others if they want to meet their sales target

 

[spiderman0616]

Your 100% correct. Sometimes I swear Macrumors deliberately tries to make Apple seem like their going under, when it's nothing more than a rehashed article from some other source.

Macrumors isn't as bad about this as some of the other Apple rumor/news sites, but every now and then they do post clickbait that they know will get the forums riled up. 99% of what I see here in comments and threads is whining and general negativity, but that's what makes money for sites like this. The more whining people do, the more eyeballs on ads.

 

[maxsix]

The CEO of Target is only saying what many are saying: "Apple's lineup is stagnant and getting dated." There is no "wow factor" and style points are few and far between. Apple's mojo has always been the "cool" image and it's slipping in that very subjective metric.

Apple's refresh rate for even modest tech enhancements it slower than a snail. Forget about truly innovative design. Why should I replace my iPhone 6? For 3D touch? No, I'll pass! How about my iPad air? No reason to update other than touch ID. Again, I'll pass. I'm still ticked off that the Air was shortchanged on RAM making it obsolete for split screen available with Air II. Don't even mention laptops or iMac's. WTF Apple?

Well said!

Once a great company they're now coasting along, hyping warmed over recycled products while engaging in profit taking while they can.

Ignoring the fact that long time experienced Apple customers are walking away from the brand. Their saving grace is gadget sales to mainstream consumers, some of which are buying into the advertising drivel suggesting an iPad is the new computer. For those who don't know the difference an iPad gets the nod. Months later it's often found collecting dust, turns out they didn't need it after all.

 

[macduke]

Look no further than Target's horrible website experience for why their sales are down. Nobody wants to use that crap! We've changed our address twice online and even called them and had them manually change it and everything from our baby registry keeps being delivered to our old address and there's nothing we can do about it! Screw Target, I'm done with their crap.

 

[porkchop9000]

Apple stopped making computers.

You would think they could have repurposed those engineers to keep all the toys, trinkets, and trash they now make have a new gimmick or a new watchband more often to keep it fresh.

How about a new color for their headphones!

 

[Sunny1990]

And will go down more after the release of the boring iPhone

 

[62tele]

Ignoring the fact that long time experienced Apple customers are walking away from the brand. Their saving grace is gadget sales to mainstream consumers, some of which are buying into the advertising drivel suggesting an iPad is the new computer. For those who don't know the difference an iPad gets the nod. Months later it's often found collecting dust, turns out they didn't need it after all.

I wouldn't go that far. Apple customers are still very loyal. I certainly am not walking away from the Apple brand and don't intend to do so. The Android and Window alternatives don't appeal to me in the least. I am just frustrated that the refresh rate is slow for significant feature upgrades. I don't think iPads collect dust. In fact, I use my almost 3 year old Air everyday and, as I posted in another thread, a trip to Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, Panera's, etc always reveals plenty of folks using their iPads or MacBooks.

 

[Shirasaki]

Apple Store broadway Sydney is neighbouring with Target Broadway store.
Go figure.

 

[doboy]

They're $200 off right now, and Target had deeper discounts last holidays than Best Buy did. The past year, I've always seen Apple products discounted.

What's $200 off? iPad Air 2? It's only $100 off because Apple reduced price on those so retail price is $399, not $499. I was talking about overall frequency of sales at Target. I recently got $225 off of iPad Pro 9.7, which Target hasn't every discounted so for me BBY wins and Target loses.

 

[Jax44]

Not too surprising since this is exactly the results expected from a CEO who lacks vision and understanding of technology and only knows the logistics of cutting corners on components, materials and manufacturing to increase profit margin.

Good take on the Target CEO.

 

[44267547]

Macrumors isn't as bad about this as some of the other Apple rumor/news sites, but every now and then they do post clickbait that they know will get the forums riled up. 99% of what I see here in comments and threads is whining and general negativity, but that's what makes money for sites like this. The more whining people do, the more eyeballs on ads.

Macrumors is the epitome of negativity and gnashing of Apple. If you want to expose Apple or find something wrong, leave it to some Macrumors members to tear down Apple in every way. It's unavoidable on this site.

 

[AlexGraphicD]

Kinda makes you think... What if Apple has decided that buying new gadgets every year is bad for the environment, and they're actually doing this on purpose to slow down our habit of filling landfills with one-year-old devices. Apple might be saving me money on purpose!

Nah, I highly doubt it but wish it was true. After all I think if that was the case Apple could openly admit it in public and explain that it is doing it for the good of the environment. Say in today's profit driven world no company would purposefully decrease its sales for the good of the environment.