Costco to stop selling Apple products.

[Tweak155]

Can't blame them. Pretty shady based on the description.

 

[waggy]

Which is not Wal-Mart customers. Apple doesn't need Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart doesn't need Apple. I think it's great that Apple is one of the few companies that can tell Wal-Mart to fuck off. If someone can't buy an Apple product at Wal-Mart, they'll just go to a place where they can. No big deal. I personally avoid that dump (Wal-Mart).

refusing to let the largest chain in teh world carry your goods is a stupid idea.

apple is it to make money. putting them in walmart makes them more money.

 

[ed21x]

the target demographic for costco is higher than walmart or sam's club on the pure basis that one requires a membership and the other two don't. Costco stuff is pretty high quality at discounted prices, while Walmart is cheap crap at dirt cheap prices.

Sam's Club is somewhere in the middle. Their pizza and hotdogs are disgusting compared to Costco's.

 

[JackBurton]

refusing to let the largest chain in teh world carry your goods is a stupid idea.

apple is it to make money. putting them in walmart makes them more money.

Not really. It depend on what product you are selling. Wal-Mart doesn't sell high end items because their customers aren't looking for high end products. You think Rolex should sell their products at Wal-Mart? You think B&W (high end speaker manufacture) should sell their products at Wal-Mart? Of course not. They'll just sit on the shelves. The only way they'll move at Wal-Mart is if they are stolen. Apple products really don't belong at Wal-Mart. If someone wants an iPod, iPad, or iPhone and it's not sold at Wal-Mart, they'll just go where they can buy one. No big deal.

 

[JackBurton]

the target demographic for costco is higher than walmart or sam's club on the pure basis that one requires a membership and the other two don't. Costco stuff is pretty high quality at discounted prices, while Walmart is cheap crap at dirt cheap prices.

Sam's Club is somewhere in the middle. Their pizza and hotdogs are disgusting compared to Costco's.

True.

 

[JD50]

Which is not Wal-Mart customers. Apple doesn't need Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart doesn't need Apple. I think it's great that Apple is one of the few companies that can tell Wal-Mart to fuck off. If someone can't buy an Apple product at Wal-Mart, they'll just go to a place where they can. No big deal. I personally avoid that dump (Wal-Mart).

Really? You don't think people buy Apple products from Wal-mart? Everyone shops at Wal-mart, not just people on welfare. They have great prices, if you don't shop there you're really missing out on some good deals.

 

[ed21x]

Apple actually has a little margin in it and is the MAIN reason the pricing is so controlled. Its also a racket since they VERY rarely let anyone sell it and have required up front cash payments for the privilege.

BTW I have 7 apple products in the house so I am far from a hater. I invested in apple as far back as the 90s...

the only part of this post that is true is the upfront payment. however, apple has one of the largest margins on any product it sells, in fact, they are one of the few companies that have a guaranteed profit on every product, and do not sacrifice initial profit in order to gain marketshare and make it up by licensing software/apps. As far as I can tell, every major retailer in the world sells iPods. Apple's established fanbase will insure that anything they spit out will be gobbled up.

Once again, the only reason apple is unwilling to sell at Costco is because they want to maintain high prices for image's sake. Like you said, any retailer has to pay upfront payment, so apple has already made the profit at that point. It's a matter of costco choosing to take a smaller margin because costco operates itself as a wholesaler.

 

[ShawnD1]

Really? You don't think people buy Apple products from Wal-mart? Everyone shops at Wal-mart, not just people on welfare. They have great prices, if you don't shop there you're really missing out on some good deals.

I think most of us avoid that place just to avoid the lines. There are 20 checkout lanes and only 2 of them have a cashier. There were a few times where I just left my cart and walked out. I was in a bad mood....

 

[JD50]

I think most of us avoid that place just to avoid the lines. There are 20 checkout lanes and only 2 of them have a cashier. There were a few times where I just left my cart and walked out. I was in a bad mood....

My wife hates it too, but she reluctantly shops there for the great prices. It helps that she can go in the middle of the day during the week.

 

[ShawnD1]

My wife hates it too, but she reluctantly shops there for the great prices. It helps that she can go in the middle of the day during the week.

I swear to god that doesn't help. I was in a large chain food store that probably doesn't exist in the US at about 10am one day. It was totally packed with old people. They are everywhere. There's still a 15 minute wait in line to buy shit. It never ends.

After work and weekends is when most people go there. The other hours are taken by old people and unemployed people. I must have looked like a crackhead because I was buying 20L of ammonia to clean some equipment at my job. I was wearing ratty clothes that one would expect to spill chemicals on, and I was buying this when most people are at work....

 

[0roo0roo]

the target demographic for costco is higher than walmart or sam's club on the pure basis that one requires a membership and the other two don't. Costco stuff is pretty high quality at discounted prices, while Walmart is cheap crap at dirt cheap prices.

Sam's Club is somewhere in the middle. Their pizza and hotdogs are disgusting compared to Costco's.

the folks that shop at costco probably don't need to get their apple products from there. they probably also shop amazon.
no loss.

 

[ed21x]

Not really. It depend on what product you are selling. Wal-Mart doesn't sell high end items because their customers aren't looking for high end products. You think Rolex should sell their products at Wal-Mart? You think B&W (high end speaker manufacture) should sell their products at Wal-Mart? Of course not. They'll just sit on the shelves. The only way they'll move at Wal-Mart is if they are stolen. Apple products really don't belong at Wal-Mart. If someone wants an iPod, iPad, or iPhone and it's not sold at Wal-Mart, they'll just go where they can buy one. No big deal.

i actually disagree with this because Apple is NOT rolex. Macs are hardly high-end and are marginally more expensive than the competition. Sure its a tradeoff between style (iPhone) and technology(Zune) for the same amount of money, but this whole 'exclusive because we are expensive' notion is just an illusion at best given Macintosh has enough products to cover the entire spectrum. I'd say there is at least one iPod variation for every tax bracket and you can get macbooks and mac minis for just a few hundred dollars. Not the best value, but if you have the money to buy a competing product, you can buy an Apple alternative with the Apple styling, and a few less bells and whistles.


Now why would Apple need walmart? because if you live out in the midwest, or pretty much any small to medium sized town in middle america, Walmart is all there is. So while the people in the major cities have the luxury of going to Best Buys, Walmart, Fry's, etc, you're practically excluding yourself from a huge market that can afford your products. Add to that, Apple products have largely set pricing, there is no point buying a Mac product online when you aren't saving anything.

 

[IGBT]

the dopes that buy apple would much rather pay full boat and then some. It creates a facade of specialty for their cheesy novelty crapola.

 

[sdifox]

Sams Club > Costco any ways. Somebody wake me up when I can get a chili dog from Costco's food court.

Sams Club did so badly up here they folded tent and left town.

 

[rudeguy]

the dopes that buy apple would much rather pay full boat and then some. It creates a facade of specialty for their cheesy novelty crapola.

while I am not a fan of bashing Apple, this is true.

If the iPad had launched at $199, it wouldn't have sold. The Ipeople like to show off their flashy, expensive devices. Look at the Macbook Air. Its a pretty netbook that STARTS at $1k.

I'm not saying that Apple stuff isn't good, quality stuff. I am saying that most Apple people take pride in paying a premium for their products.

 

[shortylickens]

refusing to let the largest chain in teh world carry your goods is a stupid idea.

apple is it to make money. putting them in walmart makes them more money.

Apple makes overpriced products. The majority of their sales are to people who honestly believe there is some sort of exclusivity in the Apple brand. Keeping them expensive is one part of that. Keeping them out of cheap stores like Walmart and Costco is another.
In the rare times I am forced to go to a shopping mall I see plenty of those cute little vending machines at Macy's and Lord & Taylor. That right there helps people to believe they are getting fancy goods. Overall its probably better for sales. Having 5% of the market share is fine if you are a relatively small company and have ridiculous profit margins.

EDIT:
Looks like I just copied Rudeguy's argument.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20025230-37.html


Costco confirms it will stop selling Apple products


In an interview with The Seattle Times earlier today, Costco's Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti confirmed the company is in the process of phasing out Apple products from its shelves.

The news confirms a 2-month-old rumor from iLounge that noted the process as already under way. iLounge's source had attributed the move to the wholesale retailer getting shut out of acquiring stock of products like the iPad, which competitors like Sam's Club, Wal-Mart Stores, and Target had gotten access to some six months after its launch.

The Seattle Times says the split is mutual and notes that, unlike some of the deals made with other large-scale Apple resellers, Costco was never allowed to sell Apple's products through its own online store. The post also highlights that Costco's sales of Apple products did not venture further than offering slightly discounted iPods and packs of iTunes gift cards.



Why does Costco hate Apple?

Sounds like Apple hated Costco, but that went straight over your head.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Apple is trying to be seen like electronic bling. That is why everything is made to stand out visually from the "heartbeats" on their laptops to the simple white earphones (that sucked. $10 earphones on a $300 music player. GJ!)

Costco probably just wanted to sell them cheaper than the approved price. They are a bit more stodgy when it comes to their policies.

Wal-Mart/Sams (the same company, BTW) would sell sugar to a Diabetic.....for a profit.....at a hospital. They REALLY do not care much about anything other than dominating the market and crushing the competition.

Kind of odd that they like Apple though, seeing how Wal Mart has a history of buying out product makers, beociomng their sole purchaser, and then forcingthem to sell for much lower than what they started at. (A company would sell 10,000 widgets to a bunch of stores, Wal Mart comes in and orders 12,000 at the same unit price. After 2-3 years, all their other contracts have gone elsewhere, and then WalMart asks for 12,000 for the price of 10,000. They have no choice but comply or they will lose ALL of their buisness for that quater and until they get their old customers back.... if they can).

But, back to Why WM? Again, bling rental. See how many lower income individuals are willing to live off of Taco Bell, but still want that Cadillac Escalade. For this reason I am surprised that Apple has not started offering leases. Maybe because computers go obsolete too quickly, but still....

There are many gripes about Apple, but the only one that really holds much water (besides their insulting advertising practice not too long ago) is their price. They simply charge much more than their compeditors for the same technology. Their products, by in large, are not BAD, they are just overpriced.

Which, again, makes it confusing to understand why they sell at any discount store.

I don't think we have the entire story, but I still think that the main reason is price control. As others have mentioned, Selling at Costco could not make Apple look worse than selling at Wal Mart.

 

[Ninjahedge]

I'm not saying that Apple stuff isn't good, quality stuff. I am saying that most Apple people take pride in paying a premium for their products.

/gives the man a prize.

 

[DT4K]

If I was Apple, I'd pull my products out of the dump that is called Wal-Mart too. And I might as well pull it out of Sam's too. That is not their target demographic.

Face it, if you want high end* (and I do consider Apple products "high end"), you don't look for it at Wal-Mart, Costco or Sam's. Sorry.


*If you don't agree with the label "high end," you can substitute "expensive" or "luxury item."

Have you been to Costco? They have plenty of "expensive" and "luxury item" goods. Costco != Sams Club/Walmart.

 

[waggy]

Not really. It depend on what product you are selling. Wal-Mart doesn't sell high end items because their customers aren't looking for high end products. You think Rolex should sell their products at Wal-Mart? You think B&W (high end speaker manufacture) should sell their products at Wal-Mart? Of course not. They'll just sit on the shelves. The only way they'll move at Wal-Mart is if they are stolen. Apple products really don't belong at Wal-Mart. If someone wants an iPod, iPad, or iPhone and it's not sold at Wal-Mart, they'll just go where they can buy one. No big deal.

there is a huge difference between a Ipod or Ipad and a BMW, rolex. if you can't see that you are dumber then i thought.

right now the price diffrence between a IPod and a zune is very little. there is s ipod for every price level. the Ipad is so new and its not as expensive (more then it should though) that with a some savings most people can get one.

 

[waggy]

Wal-Mart/Sams (the same company, BTW) would sell sugar to a Diabetic.....for a profit.....at a hospital. They REALLY do not care much about anything other than dominating the market and crushing the competition.

Kind of odd that they like Apple though, seeing how Wal Mart has a history of buying out product makers, beociomng their sole purchaser, and then forcingthem to sell for much lower than what they started at. (A company would sell 10,000 widgets to a bunch of stores, Wal Mart comes in and orders 12,000 at the same unit price. After 2-3 years, all their other contracts have gone elsewhere, and then WalMart asks for 12,000 for the price of 10,000. They have no choice but comply or they will lose ALL of their buisness for that quater and until they get their old customers back.... if they can).

EVERY store/business will sale anything to darn near anyone to make a profit thats what they do. Be it target, walmart, lowes, homedepot whatever. this critique of walmart is not just a walmart bash.

can you point out non generic stuff that is only sold at wlamart and not anywhere else? besides walmart branded shit i just don't see it.

 

[rudeguy]

/gives the man a prize.

no prize.

While I personally see no value in Apple products, I know that there are plenty of people that do. Apple does a great job of marketing and keeping their customer base hungry for new products. Listen to any Apple guy and they will be telling you about how great the next Apple product is going to be, or how great the new software upgrade is going to be. I would be willing to bet that Apple could announce a new version of the iPad but not release any specs or pics of the device and there would still be at least a million pre-orders.

 

[torpid]

Having owned Zune, iPod, iPhone, Rio Karma, Creative Zen, and Archos MP3 players, I can safely say that if CostCo starts selling the Zune it will be a huge leap backward for them unless the very latest Zune is somehow several orders of magnitude less shitty than the early Zune hardware and software. They would be better off going with off-shelf brands that have more features and don't require bloatware that makes iTunes look like the leanest piece of software on the planet.

 

[PingSpike]

Which is not Wal-Mart customers. Apple doesn't need Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart doesn't need Apple. I think it's great that Apple is one of the few companies that can tell Wal-Mart to fuck off. If someone can't buy an Apple product at Wal-Mart, they'll just go to a place where they can. No big deal. I personally avoid that dump (Wal-Mart).

Sounds like some one is upset his ultra hip iThing that everyone else already owns might be to easy for the plebs to buy. Don't worry, they already have one. You're still special just like everyone else. 😛