Phil Wahba, writing for Fortune:
“Demand for Apple Watch has been so strong in the stores and online,” Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly told Wall Street analysts on a conference call. The retailer expects to be selling the device, which hit the market in June, at all of its 1,050 big-box stores by the end of September, he added. Initially, Best Buy had planned to have watches in 300 stores by the holiday season. (It started selling the watches in early August.) Apple did not provide specific sales numbers for the watch in its second-quarter earnings last month, but Best Buy’s comments provide more evidence of the device’s success.
Joly also announced steps that will deepen Best Buy’s relationship with Apple. It is currently updating its Apple shop-in-shops at 740 stores, including new fixtures and more display tables for phones, computers, and tablets. The work is already complete at 350 stores, and will be finished at another 170 in time for the key holiday season. He also said that Best Buy will begin selling AppleCare product service and support this quarter, and will start testing out being an authorized service provider at 50 stores.
According to this Bloomberg article, Best Buy will roll out Apple Watch to 900 stores on September 4th (a week from Friday).
Was this part of the original Apple Watch marketing plan? Or is this a pivot in approach, a reaction to current sales results (whether positive or negative)? This feels like a recent development, a deal cut between Apple and Best Buy as the Apple Watch sales became known data. This story feels very fluid, facts changing as if the strategy is still forming.
Why would best buy expand to more stores if sales results were negative? One would assume they picked a good representation of their demographic with the first 300 stores. So if it’s not selling well there why expand to all stores?
Why pander to all the naysayers and hedge around all the “maybes”? Just see this as good news, plain and simple. The Apple Watch is doing very well.
If history’s any judge, a partnership with Best Buy sounds to me like an excellent way to tarnish Apple’s brand.
yes, but in the attempt to seem “fair and balanced” the author phrased this as the sales could be positive “or negative”. doesn’t make sense.
not seeing it. in the past Apple didn’t move the needle enough to get much respect in these retailers. those days are long past — now Apple owns all the profit in PC and mobile, they can get nice store-within-a-store presence, which only supplements their retail-profit-leading stores. I love the Apple Store, but best buy is nearer and if I just need something fast and simple that’s a great option.
Compared to the past Best Buy needs Apple more than Apple needs Best Buy. The big box retailer needs to do something to improve its performance, perhaps selling Apple products is a way to differentiate itself from HH Gregg. I was pleasantly surprised how well everything went when I purchased a washer and dryer from BB in May (they had the best price and the product in stock, otherwise I would have avoided them).
This isn’t a new partnership. BB already sells iPhones, iPads, iPods and Macs + accessories.
If watches were not selling well in Apple Stores, they would not sell well at Best Buy either. But if they are doing well at BB, they must have been doing well before the deal. Furthermore, Apple would not allow BB or any 3rd party to try and sell something that could be a dud – no way to contain the bad news. Conclusion: Apple Watches are selling “well”. Ultimately, however, “well” is relative. Numbers at this stage don’t matter.
Shows you how long it’s been since I was in a Best Buy. I knew they sold Macs, but not the iPhone.
I hope you’re correct. A neighbor bought an iMac from them a few years ago, along with a bunch of not-great advice.
I come from a state that has exactly one Apple Store, in the state capital, which is a 4 hour drive from the farthest areas in the state. These Best Buy counters are the “Apple Store” for people who don’t live in bigger cities.
I’m pretty sure this was part of Apple’s retail strategy — get the Watch out to early adapters, Apple fans, and thought leaders, folks who will generate a positive buzz about the product, then go wider in time for the holiday season.
I didn’t even realize that Best Buy still HAD the Apple store within a a store thing anymore!
Considering what they sold my neighbor, I wouldn’t dignify it with that description.
I don’t think so. Apple opened its first retail stores in 2001, and started selling its computers in a number of Best Buy stores in 2003.
I’ve been buying Macs since 1985, and those pre-Apple Retail Store dealerships generally sucked. No consistency. And the owners usually carped about Apple’s policies. THAT’S where the tarnish occurred!
My Tampa Apple store was #8 or 9, and I’ve been shopping there since. Virtually EVERY time I’ve visited the store it’s been jam-packed with customers.
Best Buy selling Apple Watches can only be read as a good thing, as well as a good indicator of demand for this new product. I know I love mine.
Now that I think of it, I a mixing up CompUSA with BB. I have been to BB so few times I didn’t know they had an “Apple store” at all, it was CompUSA I was thinking of. Those were so horrible that Macintosh User Groups decided to volunteer their time since the staff had no clue about Macs and often left them in unusable states. So yea, tarnish is a nice way to phrase it.
But to paraphrase kyron, Apple is much bigger now and demands more respect, something Apple customers have grown accustomed to these days.
Let’s hope so.
Yes, those older store partnerships sucked, because Apple was dealing with a commodity retailer whose customer experience was secondary, at best. Best Buy’s just another commodity retailer.
BB selling Apple Watch is indeed a good thing… for Best Buy, anyway. It remains to be seen whether this new partnership will get them to improve their game.
I know I’ll be watching.