Best Buy Ad: What Do You See?
Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 8:55AM 
We want to thank Best Buy for bringing us this tech Rorschach Test of sorts. Looking at this ad page, you will see the MacBook Pro listed at $1999. The second most expensive laptop on the page is a 17" HP for $1299. Right next to the MacBook Pro is a seemingly similar spec-ed Dell at just $629. Same drive size, same RAM, even a slot-load drive.
What are we looking at here? Is this a bad move on Best Buy's part to show only the $1999 MacBook Pro, rather than say, the $999 MacBook? Is this page proof positive for those who feel the "Apple tax" is alive and well? Does it serve Apple by painting it as a luxury computer?
Yes, there's build quality. Yes, there's Mac OS X. Yes, there's the whole user experience, but how do you get that through to someone who sees they can buy three Dell laptops for the same price as a MacBook Pro. Also worth nothing that after years of the "megahertz wars," ironically the MacBook Pro is the only model with an actual processor speed listed.
Reader Comments (8)
Well, there's been a lot of talk lately about how restaurants put a really expensive entree on their menu not because they expect people to buy it, but because it makes diners think their more moderate prices aren't so bad. So, by juxtaposing a high price item with a low priced item, maybe they expect to sell a lot more mid-ranged notebooks as opposed to profit-free netbooks.
The bottom line is it doesn't really matter. Macs now have 92% of the $1,000+ retail computer market.* People who ultimately decide on a Mac can see these same ads but just as you don't eat at the cheapest restaurant or buy the cheapest car unless "THEY" decide price is the best determining factor. That's EXACTLY the MS ads preaching to the choir. If your buying factors are screen, keyboard and $700 - then just choose a PC, any PC ... and for many people the PC experience has been so degraded, why pay more? And why look around on for brands or even speed - DON'T CARE ANYMORE because it's a "PC experience with Windows." It is NOT worth more than the bare minimum ... while we are all trying to buy a 70" TV set, only PC screens are going smaller and smaller, why? I just want to get on the internet and when it stops working, I can just toss the $300 thing ... that's how uch hated the WIN PC experience is - it's been devalued to under $300 dollars while Mac users while obviously interested in paying less are willing to spend MORE for a MAC personal computer experience ...
*The $1k+ point would be pointless if Macs were not growing at 6x times the rate of the PC industry (Apple 12% growth in a RECESSION while PC sales are up at 2%) AND also note that EVERY PC maker is either losing money or making very little (Acer's margins are 2% on a netbook - on a $300 PC, you can do the math as to their profit) while Apple's margins are around 30%. It should also be noted that the cheapest macs are NOT the best sellers - so if mac buyers were solely interested in saving money, they would be gravitating towards the cheapest mac & still have the mac experience - instead, the average selling price of a mac is 1,400 while a PC is around $500 - meaning, the Mac experience is valued at being worth $900 more.
The bottom line is there are TWO personal computer markets. Budget buyers who have no brand value nor even feature value beyond 2-3 features but buy solely on price versus Mac Personal Computer buyers who judge on value.
How much is Best Buy getting from Microsoft? This is obvious misrepresentation, just like the MS ads. I do not believe hat having an Apple ministore in Best Buy is really very good for Apple.
Still, BB sells a lot of Macs. Have you ever seen an iPhone in a AT&T ad? No. They have to push what's not selling. Macs and iPhones sell themselves. The other brands need help.
@Alan Smith, they ARE getting paid. Most manufacturers pay to have their products placed in ads, store displays, movies, commercials (for other products), etc. As to how much? That varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and each has their own complicated formula as to how much they'll pay. Normal business practice.
When I bought my first suit, I looked at one in a moderate-price store. Then I went up a couple of blocks to the econo-store. Without even asking anyone anything, my uneducated eye could see the difference ---- in spite of the "specs" being the same. I saw a similar difference when - purely for fun :) - I looked at some Dells in Costco. You'll see the same if you look at a bicycle in WalMart compared to one at a bike store.
If you can only afford a $150 bicycle, that's fine. And good for you, getting out and having some fun and exercise. But unless you're living on welfare or just above, being bothered by a few hundred dollars when buying the number one tool for your business, or your number one recreational tool is engaging in profoundly false economy. There IS a difference in the whole experience, and it's worth it.
What I noticed first was the "NO INTEREST STOREWIDE" right next to the MacBook Pro. I thought that meant that nobody in Best Buy was interested in Macs! Seems to be the general BB attitude.
This observation is why Apple made an excellent choice with opening its own store and it still needs another 30 stores in the US alone to counter just such ads.
Look, there will always be the easily-satisfied cheapsters and those willing to spend serious cash for certain brand names. If they put me in a showroom loaded with low-end Toyotas and Hyundais and one or two sporty Mercedes, I would walk over to the Mercedes and pay no attention to the other crap-boxes. You either want high-quality merchandise or you don't. In some ways the BB ad could be showing that the MacBook Pro is overpriced for nothing, but that's up for the buyer to ascertain. Anyone who buys home appliances doesn't necessarily go and buy the cheapest piece of crap they can find unless that's all they can afford. Maybe they need to do some comparison shopping based on other criteria than price alone.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2007/10/macs-top-another-satisfaction-survey.ars
Does it really matter what Best Buy puts in their flyers or how biased they are? If Best Buy can sell three Windows PCs for the price of one MacBook Pro, more power to them to stay in business. I can undestand that Best Buy wants to move merchandise, so why not put the least expensive computers they can in their flyers. If people are too lazy to do any decent research on what they are buying, then they deserve what they get. Eventually more people will understand that if they can afford to pay more, they'll automatically buy Apple. It's good they put a top-class MacBook Pro against those other Wincrappers. There are bound to be a few quality-discerning people willing to spend money that will take the effort to see if they're getting their money's worth.
If you can't afford to buy a Mac, then don't buy it. Settle for something less and enjoy it. That's how life is. Apple will never have major market share, but so what. Those that can afford Macs will reap the benefits. Those that can't afford Macs or see no benefit from owning one, that's their misfortune.