Reseller Redux
Fred McCann passed on this interesting tidbit over at ThinkSecret, who claim they have gotten their mitts on some early documents showing Apples' plans to shift revenue from the reseller channel to their own. Interesting bits:
A different Apple document says that part of the company's growth strategy would be to "shift customers from channel... Apple would do this through an "exclusive value proposition"... such as the recently-announced ProCare -- as well as competitive repair prices, Apple-branded goods, rewards for loyal customers, and a "better" value for build-to-order hardware......Apple's own numbers indicate that the company has experienced success in shifting sales from the channel to its stores. At a recent private company meeting, Apple revealed that in markets that lack a retail store, independent resellers have grown 8%, but in markets with an Apple store, they have declined 16%. Catalog and Web sales have decreased as well, by Apple's numbers, making CompUSA the only non-Apple winner...
...It then goes on to bring up the lawsuits that have been ongoing for awhile now regarding Apples accounting practices and customer poaching, and other interesting bits. Unfortunately they don't actually show the papers, or reference them somewhere else (send them to the smokinggun.com or something guys), so you can see for yourself.
Most of the info lines up, but without seeing the documents they claim to be referencing in some form it difficult to tell whether or not they actually have them, have heard things, or are making up specifics to fit what we're seeing.
Posted by drunkenbatmanJune 01, 2004, at 12:53 PM
