Douglas MacKellar

The Apple Store has reinvented the way consumers shop for, purchase and service their electronic goods and gadgets; specifically Apple products. Apple has presented their products to the consumer in a boutique, modern and expansive layout that invites the customer to try their products whilst being woo-ed by a friendly sales representative in a manner that was uncommon in the personal computer and electronics market. The Apple store is the highest revenue generating retailer by square-foot in the United States, more than double it’s nearest competitor Tiffany & Co, but this isn’t Apple’s only channel of distribution. Apple has partnerships with many electronic and departments stores such as Best Buy, Future Shop, Walmart, and Target but to name a few. Phone carrier stores such as Rogers, AT&T and Verizon also sell a select few Apple products that help enlarge the companies ability to get their products out to the masses. As well as having physical locations available for consumers to purchase their products, online distribution is a medium that is also very active and available 24/7 by the online Apple Store and their partners Amazon and Ebay.

Apple Product Sales by Channel and Output

With an extensive list of partners Apple can capitalise on consumer’s buying behaviour with respect to where they like to shop and for what product, the graph above puts this into perspective. The graph shows that the Apple Store, as expected, the highest seller of Apple products overall, however it is the Mac computer that is their best selling product for Apple with the iPad in a close second. On the other hand it appears that consumers prefer to shop at local carrier stores for their mobile telecommunication needs, perhaps due to the complementary nature of the product and the wireless service. It seems that  the number of Apple’s distribution channels is as diverse as their product line.

Sources:

http://allthingsd.com/20121003/apple-stores-get-the-glory-but-retail-partners-shoulder-load/

Apple Stores have seventeen times better performance than the average retailer

http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/parcelforce-worldwide/using-the-marketing-mix-to-drive-change/place.html#axzz2HayCa0Aa

http://www.marketingteacher.com/case-study/apple-case-study.html#