So I decided to drop into the Village Pointe Apple store in Omaha, NE. Perchance they might have a type-C adapter with the HDMI port for the new Macbook. Yea, right.
The first thing I notice is that there were a number of staff just standing around. I've been to this store many times and this was uncharacteristic, to say the least.
Talked to a couple of staff and asked about the HDMI adapter and they said they don't expect to see it any time soon. Order online was their solution. Not what I like to hear when I go shopping for an Apple product in an Apple store. Oh well, moving on.
I next asked them about the Macbook. Yes, we have display units, but none for sale. They hadn't even talk to one that had received theirs yet so they were excited when I told them I had mine already. One of the staff had theirs on order for May delivery. I asked them when they were expecting to get some for resale and they both looked at each other and just shrugged. They did not seem pleased with the fact that they had this hot little laptop on the market with lots of people interested in buying and the pat response they were giving was "buy it online because we don't have any idea when we will get them". Moving on.
I next looked at the Apple Watch. They had about 2 or 3 dozen display units but none for sale. I told them I missed out on the early order frenzy and they encouraged me to try some on and place an order... online, because they don't have any idea when they will be getting them in stock. I told them I know which one I want to purchase so I'm just waiting till the rush is over, then order.
So my overall impression is that Apple store employees are as frustrated as we consumers are with the lack of supply in the retail stores. As they said, this has never happened before... new product launch and not ONE to sell!
I asked them this question. Do you think this will impact the consumers reliance on the Apple store as a primary source of purchasing Apple products? They both said ABSOLUTELY. In fact, they've already seen it. Their traffic has diminished since the launch of the watch and Macbook because the consumer knows they don't have anything to sell.
Interesting article regarding this:
http://www.t-gaap.com/2015/4/16/over-slash-under-angela-ahrendts-out-by-june
The first thing I notice is that there were a number of staff just standing around. I've been to this store many times and this was uncharacteristic, to say the least.
Talked to a couple of staff and asked about the HDMI adapter and they said they don't expect to see it any time soon. Order online was their solution. Not what I like to hear when I go shopping for an Apple product in an Apple store. Oh well, moving on.
I next asked them about the Macbook. Yes, we have display units, but none for sale. They hadn't even talk to one that had received theirs yet so they were excited when I told them I had mine already. One of the staff had theirs on order for May delivery. I asked them when they were expecting to get some for resale and they both looked at each other and just shrugged. They did not seem pleased with the fact that they had this hot little laptop on the market with lots of people interested in buying and the pat response they were giving was "buy it online because we don't have any idea when we will get them". Moving on.
I next looked at the Apple Watch. They had about 2 or 3 dozen display units but none for sale. I told them I missed out on the early order frenzy and they encouraged me to try some on and place an order... online, because they don't have any idea when they will be getting them in stock. I told them I know which one I want to purchase so I'm just waiting till the rush is over, then order.
So my overall impression is that Apple store employees are as frustrated as we consumers are with the lack of supply in the retail stores. As they said, this has never happened before... new product launch and not ONE to sell!
I asked them this question. Do you think this will impact the consumers reliance on the Apple store as a primary source of purchasing Apple products? They both said ABSOLUTELY. In fact, they've already seen it. Their traffic has diminished since the launch of the watch and Macbook because the consumer knows they don't have anything to sell.
Interesting article regarding this:
http://www.t-gaap.com/2015/4/16/over-slash-under-angela-ahrendts-out-by-june
