Larry Dignan posted a blog that Apple is set to sell its Mac computers in more than 500 Best Buy stores by February 2009. This is apparently a buzz story coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show this week.His post, Best Buy to Double Apple Presence in Stores, concludes that this deal should be good for both Apple and Best Buy. I am not so sure. Yes, it is great for Best Buy. For Apple, I am slightly concerned that the company stands to potentially cannibalize its own retail outlets. Their stock price also commands a premium over others in the sector because of the brand and buzz that the company has created. The Apple Store is part of the Apple "experience".
All specialty retail (like the Apple Store) is often a great story until they stop growing. Will Apple be a victim of the monthly "same store sales" retail silliness? Probably not, but their current stores command a per square foot sales number that any other retailer in the world would sell their children for. Why mess with this?
On the other side of the argument, Best Buy currently sells more of Apple's iPods than anyone else. But a $400 consumer gadget and the Mac are very different. Is Best Buy going to also sell support contracts? How is that going to protect the Apple brand?
This is probably a "nit" in what is an incredible Apple story, but I do wonder how this part of the story plays out.
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