Walmart Discounting Apple Products: Gloom or Boom?
This past Friday, Walmart announced on its Facebook page that it was rolling back its iPhone and iPad pricing for a limited time. Within minutes, the announcement flew around tech blog circles, quickly reaching mainstream publications such as ABC and CNN.
The discussion soon took a new direction as bloggers began to wonder if Walmart’s discounted pricing actually meant Apple was imploding; unable to sell supply due to lackluster demand. One blogger summed up that attitude well, writing:
"Apple has finally thrown in the towel on pretending there is a supply shortage and admitted there is simply not enough demand at the given price point, by proceeding to sell the margin flagship iPhone 5 at a third off the original price, at the bargain basement commodity expert Wal-Mart of all places….And just like that, the “niche premium” magic of the once uber-cool gizmo is gone, not to mention AAPL’s profit margins, very much as the stock price has been sensing over the past two months…”
The blog known as Reuters added additional fuel and mystery to the Apple bear argument, in their usual naive style:
"Apple has focused on high-priced, premium gadgets for many years and has strictly enforced its prices with retailers and other distributors. However, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman said on Friday that the discounts were arranged with Apple.
'We worked together with them on this,' the spokeswoman, Sarah Spencer, said. 'They are a great partner.'
Why is Walmart Discounting Apple Products?
Third-party retailer discounts are nothing new. Best Buy and RadioShack routinely sell entry-level iPhone 5 units for less than $199 (Best Buy is currently selling the 16 GB iPhone 5 for $149.99). Apple’s wholesale pricing and margins remain intact as these third-party retailers eat the discount (ignoring differences between wholesale and retail prices). Similar campaigns are seen with iTunes gift card promotions, where retailers offer free iTunes gift cards when purchasing Apple products. Best Buy is also well known for promotions similar to “Buy $100 of iTunes gift cards for $75” - where Best Buy (not Apple) is responsible for the discount.
Diving into Walmart’s latest iPhone and iPad price discount campaign sheds additional light.
1) The promotion is only valid in-store. For brick and mortar retailers, store traffic and same-store sales metrics are important. One of Walmart’s ultimate goals in discounting iPhones and iPads is having customers travel to a Walmart and make their way through the store before finally reaching the iPhones and iPads (conveniently not located near the store entrance). Walmart feels confident that it will be able to sell additional items to these customers, similar to placing milk and eggs at the back of a supermarket so that a customer has to walk through the entire store just to buy a few essentials. In addition, many consumers will narrow their holiday shopping destinations to a few stores over the next week and Walmart wouldn’t mind making that exclusive list - using discounted iPhones and iPads as the carrot for getting people into the stores.
2) The promotion is only good while supplies last. Many consumers have flocked to Walmart’s Facebook wall to point out that quite a few Walmart locations don’t have iPhones or iPads in stock. Walmart receives good press coverage from discounting popular items, while not losing much money as product supply limits sales; sneaky, but efficient.
3) Brand awareness. By advertising discounted iPhones and iPads, Walmart is using the promotion as a marketing campaign to strengthen consumer’s association between Walmart and Apple. Many consumers don’t think of Walmart as the first place to visit for iPhones and iPads. I can only imagine how many people now have Walmart at the top of their destination list in search of that perfect Apple gift for the holidays.
What about that little gem from Reuters indicating Apple was working with Walmart on this discount? On the surface, it sounds somewhat damning for Apple, but in reality, it doesn’t mean much; only that Apple is okay with Walmart eating iPhone and iPad price discounts. Sounds like an iPhone and iPad boom to me.