Apple Store not matching competitors on their own products

dlakers3peat on 23/11/2013 - 19:39

Today I walked into the apple store at castle hill to buy a ipad air 64gb cellular. Showed them the Big W price of $898 and they said they wouldn't match it because its a new product. Maybe later down the track they would but not now. So I walked into David Jones which is next door and did they same thing, asked them to match the BIG W. Without hesitation they sold it to me for $898. Now I went back to apple store to show them and spoke to the manager to complain. He gave me a whole story about how the apple store is an experience, not just pushing product. I think its ironic that I have to buy a company's product from a competitor and not from apple directly. To me that's just bad customer service. Even though the manager agreed with me he said there was nothing he could do. Any way moral of the story don't expect Apple to price match the ipad air. It may also be why I have heard apple making life hell for resellers, as they are drip feeding stock to them and holding back sending them the high end ipad airs.

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Comments

  • botftw on 23/11/2013 - 19:42
    -1

    Well it's not really competition when the product is the same.. Competition is when you have two different brands producing a similar product - that's competition.

    • NancyCat on 23/11/2013 - 20:04

      it's not really competition when the product is the same

      Coles, Woollies and Aldi all sell Pepsi. Coles, Woolies and Aldi are competitors.
      Apple stores, DJ and Big W all sell iPads. So how come they are not competitors?

      • botftw on 23/11/2013 - 20:17

        Apple is a company who creates products, Big W, Woolworths, Aldi, Coles do not directly create products (except for the home branded stuff).

        Apple does not directly compete with those other retailers, not in the fashion that those retailers compete amongst themselves. Apple just happens to have sleek, glass "warehouses".

        You dont see the biscuit company Arnott competing with Woolworths, Aldi - yes you can buy the products from the factory warehouses BUT just because you can find Arnotts biscuits at Woolworths and Coles does not me Arnott competes with them.

        • Almost Banned on 23/11/2013 - 23:35
          +2

          I think there's a difference between price competition and product competition…

        • NancyCat on 24/11/2013 - 08:52
          +1

          Yes botftw, you are right, Apple creates products. Its competitors are Samsung, LG, Nokia …

          And yes, Arnott isn’t Woolies & Cole’s competitor.

          HOWEVER, Apple also does retail sales. Arnott doesn’t. Retail sales is a huge business for Apple. Big ‘glass warehouse’ shops in prime locations around the world; hiring, training sales staff… If other retailers (BigW, Dick Smith, DJ, JB…) were not Apple’s competitors, then why would Apple invest soooo much money in its retail shops & online shop? Just like BigW, Dick Smith…, Apple retail shops’ fundamental objective is to get people in their shops and spend money.

          ‘John’ needs to buy Product X. Both Shop A and Shop B sell Product X. John can buy Product X either from Shop A or Shop B. Both Shop A & B are competing against each other to get ‘John’ to come into their shop, spend money and buy Product X. Whichever shop John ends up buying Product X from wins the competition. Doesn’t matter what Product X is, or who the manufacturer is, or if the shop also stock Product Y and Z.

        • botftw on 24/11/2013 - 19:18

          .
          Because Apple has already "won". Those retailers buy from Apple and they already make profit from that. Apple sets restrictions on which the prices of their products cannot be sold any lower than $X. That's why you rarely see discounts from retailers of Apple products - rather you see gift cards, earphones, or gifts that are given in conjunction with purchase of Apple products.

          Apple does not directly compete with those retailers - they don't have to care. My point is that they do not compete with retailers out of profit motive, they produce for profit motive and sell.

          While other retailers may make it more attractive to buy an iPhone from their store, Apple doesn't need to. The investments in glass stores, customer service are all just for brand loyalty and for showing off how legitimate of a business they are.

          @blaircam Price competition and product competition… Product competition basically is price competition as when products compete, factors such as price, quality and environmental concerns make a product more competitive.

  • Phoenixsun6 on 23/11/2013 - 19:51
    +9

    why the hell would you bother going back to the apple store? did it make you feel better in doing so? Everybody knows you only go to buy apple products at an apple store if you are a fanboi or you don't expect to get the product cheaper elsewhere…

  • scrimshaw on 23/11/2013 - 20:17
    +2

    "“If someone brings an ad into one of our retail stores, our Apple retail stores have a price-matching policy,”

    ~ says Apple Australia's Vice President Tony King in Parliament, 2013.

    http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/337427,apple-announces-pr…

    So yeah, the store manager you just spoke to has his cranium stuck a little too far in his sphincter.

  • Moots on 24/11/2013 - 00:14
    +2

    If his name was Luke, early 20s black hair.. His a bit not normal, had a big argument just yesterday about the consumer rights. I taught him about something he should be well aware of.

    • ThadtheChad on 25/11/2013 - 01:53
      +1

      @scrimshaw

      So yeah, the store manager you just spoke to has his cranium stuck a little too far in his sphincter.

      That's gold mate. :) +100 interwebs to you sir.

      If his name was Luke, early 20s black hair.. His a bit not normal, had a big argument just yesterday about the consumer rights. I taught him about something he should be well aware of.

      So he's a bit not normal? Almost like he's a bit special?

      • Moots on 25/11/2013 - 18:40

        hahahahah

  • jace88 on 28/11/2013 - 10:35

    I personally have never had issues with getting Apple Store in Castle Hill to price match. The hardest one was when Big W was having Apple in-ears with remote for $39 or something (far less than the $100+ RRP) and they asked me to find a store which actually had stock and could confirm verbally on the phone before they'd price match it. Reasonable I thought. In terms of price matching iPads, never tried though because very rarely are they significantly discounted beyond a few dollars unless it's a special promo in which case stock is long gone before I even get to the Apple Store to price match.

  • kaos on 24/11/2014 - 14:29

    I am a former Apple Reseller, and when Apple opened up their own stores they would aggressively compete against us and price match. At the time I forecast that when they had pushed all of the reseller out of business, they would simply cease price matching and everybody would be paying retail price…..

    Fast forward 10 years, our shop went broke and just about everybody pays retail price. Not you Ozbargainers of course, but it has become more difficult to get a discount.

    Feel free to call me bitter and twisted, but you know I'm right!

  • ethereal88 on 24/11/2014 - 16:01

    ROFL a $900 frisbee … .

    • tonyjzx on 24/11/2014 - 16:43

      yeah i kinda agree with ethereal here

      you wanted to buy a $900 frisbee from an apple store and got denied

      then went to DJs and bought the frisbee from there instead so how has the Apple Store lost?

      you still bought it! Apple still got their cash

      now i know why Apple is the most valuable company in the world with $150 bn in cash… its because of people like the OP

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