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Watches and Straps to be boxed seperatly at point of sale.

Piggie

Piggie

macrumors G3
Original poster
Feb 23, 2010
9,203
4,171
Tell me what you think about this.
Also, think how you would sell it and the logistics of doing it any other way.

Feel free to disagree, but, in my mind the only sensible manner to sell the watch is to box the bodies and straps separately at the factory, ship them to Apple stores like this.
And only at the final point of sale does the Apple salesperson pick, from their storeroom the body and strap you wish.

Rubbish you say, ok, well, how else would you do it?
Think about it for a moment.

Do you think "This" would be practical instead?

In the Apple store room:

=Sports Watch=

100 box's of Apple Sport watch with White straps
100 box's of Apple Sport watch with Blue straps
100 box's of Apple Sport watch with Green straps
100 box's of Apple Sport watch with Pink straps
200 box's of optional White Straps
200 box's of optional Blue Straps
200 box's of optional Green Straps
200 box's of optional Pink Straps

=Apple Watch=

100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Link Bracelets
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Milanese Loop Bracelets
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Modern Buckle Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Leather Loop Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Classic Buckle Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with White Sports Bands
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Black Sports Bands
200 box's of optional Link Bracelets
200 box's of optional Milanese Loop Bracelets
200 box's of optional Modern Buckle Straps
200 box's of optional Leather Loop Straps
200 box's of optional Classic Buckle Straps
200 box's of optional White Sports Bands
200 box's of optional Black Sports Bands

=Edition Watch=

(Can't be bothered to type any more in!) :D

You see what I am getting at, how crazy this would be to stock in this manner, with pre-packaged Bodies and Straps.

It would be far far more sensible to have the bodies and straps all separate, right up until the Apple salesman goes to the stock room, takes out the combination the customer had bought and hands them over.

Can you imagine the scenario.
Walking into the store for a Apple Watch with white band, but the ones with white band have all sold out, so you have to have one with the black band it comes boxed with, but you can buy the white band separate.

Why would you even consider pre packing bodies and straps as it will cause so much difficulty and the need to carry far more stock permutations?

You thoughts?
 
troop231 said:
Makes sense, and for the orders that ship to your home it would be in just one box, correct, or still two seperate boxes for the case and band? :)

Good thread Piggie
Click to expand...

Given that it takes seconds to slip in the straps, I'd ship them to your home separately also (in nice box's of course)

In store, the salesperson can of course offer to fit the straps for you.

Pre packing is "Such" a lot of work, both in guessing which combinations to make how many of, and also in store you will run out of one permutation and have loads left of another permutation, with customers perhaps having to decide between no watch or a permutation they don't want.
 
Only issue I see is that they will have to reserve bands that don't go on the shelves seperately, otherwise they could run out of stock and people buying a Watch won't get a band at all lol. Think of stores like Best Buy, etc as well in this scenario.
 
I agree.

I do think that there can be a generic band that is offered with every watch and then the customer can buy one of the others at an additional cost. This would/could generate more $$$ for Apple.

Personally, I won't mind paying $349 for the watch. I do have a feeling that the bands will be pricey, which is kind of frustrating for me.
 
troop231 said:
Only issue I see is that they will have to reserve bands that don't go on the shelves seperately, otherwise they could run out of stock and people buying a Watch won't get a band at all lol. Think of stores like Best Buy, etc as well in this scenario.
Click to expand...

Well, there will be far less chance of going out of stock.
The numbers I used above for example.

Stocking the way I think is daft:

100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Link Bracelets
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Milanese Loop Bracelets
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Modern Buckle Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Leather Loop Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Classic Buckle Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with White Sports Bands
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Black Sports Bands
200 box's of optional Link Bracelets
200 box's of optional Milanese Loop Bracelets
200 box's of optional Modern Buckle Straps
200 box's of optional Leather Loop Straps
200 box's of optional Classic Buckle Straps
200 box's of optional White Sports Bands
200 box's of optional Black Sports Bands

If you stocked it my way :)
The same amount of stock = Gives you:

700 Stainless Steel bodies
300 Link Bracelets
300 Milanese Loop Bracelets
300 Modern Buckle Straps
300 Leather Loop Straps
300 Classic Buckle Straps
300 Modern Buckle Straps
300 White Sports Bands
300 Black Sports Bands

And you can simply mix and match in store, and order more of whichever straps are needed / proving more popular.

Just seems daft any other way. :)

Its just a thought :)
 
R
troop231 said:
Only issue I see is that they will have to reserve bands that don't go on the shelves seperately, otherwise they could run out of stock and people buying a Watch won't get a band at all lol. Think of stores like Best Buy, etc as well in this scenario.
Click to expand...

Apple's rivals armies will be in full force to sabotage the AW on the first week or so as they will be buying the bands only, as many as possible. Then they will return all of them before the return/exchange expiration.

Apple is not stupid.

:D

Jk

There are many Apple staffs in each store to work on stocking etc. - that will not be a problem. And they are "Geniuses" for a reason to deal with your non-issue scenario. ;)

The volume of pre-packaged watch case + bands will be allocated based on a pre-determined / perceived would be most popular colors or style.
 
Last edited:
Remember that there were 45 iPhone 5c/5s combinations, all in separate boxes. It wouldn't surprise me to see dozens of combinations again.
 
Piggie said:
Well, there will be far less chance of going out of stock.
The numbers I used above for example.

Stocking the way I think is daft:

100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Link Bracelets
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Milanese Loop Bracelets
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Modern Buckle Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Leather Loop Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Classic Buckle Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with White Sports Bands
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Black Sports Bands
200 box's of optional Link Bracelets
200 box's of optional Milanese Loop Bracelets
200 box's of optional Modern Buckle Straps
200 box's of optional Leather Loop Straps
200 box's of optional Classic Buckle Straps
200 box's of optional White Sports Bands
200 box's of optional Black Sports Bands

If you stocked it my way :)
The same amount of stock = Gives you:

700 Stainless Steel bodies
300 Link Bracelets
300 Milanese Loop Bracelets
300 Modern Buckle Straps
300 Leather Loop Straps
300 Classic Buckle Straps
300 Modern Buckle Straps
300 White Sports Bands
300 Black Sports Bands

And you can simply mix and match in store, and order more of whichever straps are needed / proving more popular.

Just seems daft any other way. :)

Its just a thought :)
Click to expand...

I am not hating your idea, but there is no way an AW case will be boxed without a band. And that is really a potential stocking nightmare, it is not many permutations.

I am just worried now they would not add more additional bands in the future because of the headache in stocking of pre-packaged combo etc.

Maybe the AW case will be packaged to limited or certain perceived most popular styles only.
 
As far as Best Buy and other non-Apple Stores maybe they could have a few base options. If you want to customize it you go to an Apple Store or apple.com.

Macaddict16
 
Nermal said:
Remember that there were 45 iPhone 5c/5s combinations, all in separate boxes. It wouldn't surprise me to see dozens of combinations again.
Click to expand...

True. That's not a far cry from 65 SKUs for the Apple Watch.

It makes no sense to box the Edition models separately though as they have unique straps that only work with a specific model's crown cap color and/or yellow or rose gold accents.
 
RThen the leas popular/styles or bands along with the others as OPTIONAL so they would not have that many stock pre-packaged permutations.

----------

The $349 starting has to include a strap. Do not make it more expensive. I know what you are thinking. So that we can buy the AW case only without a band for a cheaper price - maybe for $299. :p
 
cleirac said:
I am not hating your idea, but there is no way an AW case will be boxed without a band. And that is really a potential stocking nightmare, it is not many permutations.

I am just worried now they would not add more additional bands in the future because of the headache in stocking etc.
Click to expand...

Please note: I'm not suggesting the watch body is sold without a band.
Only that they are in separate box's from factory to store, until the salesperson picks them and hands the selection to the buying customer.

I'm not even suggesting the customer can mix any body and strap, they may still only be "buyable" in pre-approved combinations.

It would, to me anyway, seem silly, if you had come into my Apple store foe a Apple Watch with white strap, and I tell you we are all out of white and black, but we still have green and blue and pink.

If you would like to buy a green or blue or pink one, then I can offer to sell you a white strap separately as I have plenty of those, but I don't have any watches that a pre-packed with white straps.

Would that scenario, which would happen, seem silly?
 
kmj2318 said:
I don't think that will, or should, happen. Sounds like a mess.
Click to expand...

Ok, fair enough, we all have our views.
So you would stock this:

This is just the Stainless version:

100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Link Bracelets
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Milanese Loop Bracelets
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Modern Buckle Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Leather Loop Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Classic Buckle Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with White Sports Bands
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Black Sports Bands
200 box's of optional Link Bracelets
200 box's of optional Milanese Loop Bracelets
200 box's of optional Modern Buckle Straps
200 box's of optional Leather Loop Straps
200 box's of optional Classic Buckle Straps
200 box's of optional White Sports Bands
200 box's of optional Black Sports Bands

And likewise all the approved, on the web site permutations for the Sports and Edition models?
 
Piggie said:
Please note: I'm not suggesting the watch body is sold without a band.
Only that they are in separate box's from factory to store, until the salesperson picks them and hands the selection to the buying customer.

I'm not even suggesting the customer can mix any body and strap, they may still only be "buyable" in pre-approved combinations.

It would, to me anyway, seem silly, if you had come into my Apple store foe a Apple Watch with white strap, and I tell you we are all out of white and black, but we still have green and blue and pink.

If you would like to buy a green or blue or pink one, then I can offer to sell you a white strap separately as I have plenty of those, but I don't have any watches that a pre-packed with white straps.

Would that scenario, which would happen, seem silly?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hear you, but since the bands can be sold separately, a store selling them can potentially run out of bands first or left with unsold case and no more bands to sell. The buyers will go to other stores who have both. And they need both.

The alternative is, a store will stop selling bands when the number of unsold case equals number of unsold bands (that match or in that pre-approved Apple combo - yeah, a bigger nightmare ��). Hmmmmm...


Unless Apple's bigger surprise is actually, AW is also designed as a pocket watch - it will also look great without a band. Or has many functionality that does not require somebody's wrist. :D

----------

Very interesting though on how exactly this will work.
 
cleirac said:
Yeah, I hear you, but since the bands can be sold separately, a store selling them can potentially run out of bands and left with unsold case. The buyers will go to other stores who have both. And they need both.

The alternative is, a store will stop selling bands when the number of unsold case equals number of unsold bands (that match or in that pre-approved Apple combo - yeah, a bigger nightmare ��). Hmmmmm...


Unless Apple's bigger surprise is actually, AW is also designed as a pocket watch - it will also look great without a band. :D
Click to expand...

I do understand :)
I am just pointing out, for the same level of stock, you will be far less lightly to run out of any particular combination if they are separate in the "Store Room"

Would be like the iPad having 7 different colour cases and Apple having to pre pack one of each colour of case with an iPad.
Its easier to just keep cases and iPad's separate.

I'm probably wrong, but just seems easier to manage, and it's how other things in life are sold. Easier to deal with stock.

:)

We'll soon see :)
 
Piggie said:
Ok, fair enough, we all have our views.
So you would stock this:

This is just the Stainless version:

100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Link Bracelets
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Milanese Loop Bracelets
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Modern Buckle Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Leather Loop Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Classic Buckle Straps
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with White Sports Bands
100 box's of Stainless Steel watch with Black Sports Bands
200 box's of optional Link Bracelets
200 box's of optional Milanese Loop Bracelets
200 box's of optional Modern Buckle Straps
200 box's of optional Leather Loop Straps
200 box's of optional Classic Buckle Straps
200 box's of optional White Sports Bands
200 box's of optional Black Sports Bands

And likewise all the approved, on the web site permutations for the Sports and Edition models?
Click to expand...

In a way. But not nearly as many bands. Actually, less bands than compete watches. Only some people are actually going to get an extra band. Having twice as many bands as compete sets implies that each person will buy two extra bands. I'd say less than half of every one that buys a watch will get an extra band. Which would mean that you only need less than half of the amount of watches to have a good supply.

Also, I don't think adding complexity to the retail side is a good idea. I'd rather have a factory assemble and package, that's what it's best at. Retail employees are good at checking if it's in stock and grabing the box from the back. I'm not confident in retail employees making this work because they already have to deal with many other things.
 
I kind of agree with the posts here that stocking preconfigured watches will be an inventory nightmare!

One thought I had...... What if the packaging of the watch unit also contained a space where a 'strap box' could be included. Perhaps a little drawer like area at the bottom. I'm sure Mr Ive could come up with something clever!
 
kmj2318 said:
In a way. But not nearly as many bands. Actually, less bands than compete watches. Only some people are actually going to get an extra band. Having twice as many bands as compete sets implies that each person will buy two extra bands. I'd say less than half of every one that buys a watch will get an extra band. Which would mean that you only need less than half of the amount of watches to have a good supply.

Also, I don't think adding complexity to the retail side is a good idea. I'd rather have a factory assemble and package, that's what it's best at. Retail employees are good at checking if it's in stock and grabing the box from the back. I'm not confident in retail employees making this work because they already have to deal with many other things.
Click to expand...

Going to be interesting to see.
Either way.
Main importance of course is to try and make sure every customer can buy the case and strap combination, they have seen on the website.

----------
rossy100 said:
I kind of agree with the posts here that stocking preconfigured watches will be an inventory nightmare!

One thought I had...... What if the packaging of the watch unit also contained a space where a 'strap box' could be included. Perhaps a little drawer like area at the bottom. I'm sure Mr Ive could come up with something clever!
Click to expand...

Indeed, yes.
I did suggest (wild thinking) that the box's, if they were plastic, like Apple have used in the past, could even clip together.

Just wild thoughts :)
 
The various collections will come with a band attached in the box, anything else would be silly. Would you seriously expect Apple to add the disclaimer "Some Assembly Required" on the box of every Watch? Maybe right below "Batteries Not Included"... ;)

This is not a toy. This is a premium/luxury fashion thing device. It will have a strap attached, in-box. Like every other wristwatch on the market.
 
Lennyvalentin said:
The various collections will come with a band attached in the box, anything else would be silly. Would you seriously expect Apple to add the disclaimer "Some Assembly Required" on the box of every Watch? Maybe right below "Batteries Not Included"... ;)

This is not a toy. This is a premium/luxury fashion thing device. It will have a strap attached, in-box. Like every other wristwatch on the market.
Click to expand...

You may very well be right.
I was simply pointing out given the number of strap and body combinations, they will have to have a hell of a lot of pre-packed variations and a lot of dead, unpopular combination stock in store.

So we will have:

Aluminium sports watch
Normal bright polished steel watch
Black Steel Watch
Edition Watch

Each of these pre-boxed with every strap combination, all ready for sale?

How many individual permutations of pre-packed units will that be to hold?

Around 20 different boxed permutations do you think?
 
Piggie said:
Each of these pre-boxed with every strap combination, all ready for sale?
Click to expand...

The only official combos are 10 Sport models, 18 stainless steel models and 6 Edition models. However, I'm not sure how the various size straps will be packaged.

It's conceivable they'll do what you suggested only with the Sport models with S, M and L straps. Some of the stainless steel models are at least adjustable so maybe 1 or 2 different sizes. I don't see that happening with the Edition models because of the unique, model-specific straps due to the crown cap colors.
 
Piggie said:
I was simply pointing out given the number of strap and body combinations, they will have to have a hell of a lot of pre-packed variations and a lot of dead, unpopular combination stock in store.
Click to expand...
The whole point of creating specific collections with a watch and a band together is the implicit implication that they're sold together. If they're not sold together, then what's the fricken point of having set collections? Almost all of the bands fit all of the bodies, so just pick and choose your combo, right?

Btw, I certainly wouldn't expect every single SKU to be on sale in all sales locations. When I bought my iPhone5S, the only models they actually had in stock were 16GB units in the various colors; if you wanted anything else you had to order it.
 
Lennyvalentin said:
The whole point of creating specific collections with a watch and a band together is the implicit implication that they're sold together. If they're not sold together, then what's the fricken point of having set collections? Almost all of the bands fit all of the bodies, so just pick and choose your combo, right?

Btw, I certainly wouldn't expect every single SKU to be on sale in all sales locations. When I bought my iPhone5S, the only models they actually had in stock were 16GB units in the various colors; if you wanted anything else you had to order it.
Click to expand...

Fair point.
And I agree with the "sold together" concept as you put it.

I suppose I still think things can be "sold together" without physically needing to exist within the same box. :)
 
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