If You Want To Buy an Apple Watch In-Store, You'll Need a Reservation

An anonymous reader writes "Good news for those of you thinking of buying an Apple watch but were concerned the experience wouldn't feel exclusive enough. According to MacRumors there will be no walk-in sales the first few weeks of launch. Instead, you'll have to call the store and make reservations. From the article: "Apple will begin offering online pre-sales of the Apple Watch starting on April 10th, with the first deliveries occurring on April 24th, the official Apple Watch launch date. During those two weeks, customers will be able to have hands-on 'try-on' appointments at Apple retail stores in order to help make up their mind. However, according to training documents that MacRumors has received, Apple is not allowing any walk-in retail purchases for the Apple Watch at launch. Instead customers must make an online 'Product Reservation' to hold a specific Apple Watch model at a retail store. This new 'Product Reservation' system is used instead of Apple's 'Personal Pickup' system for Apple Watches. Apple's retail training documents indicate that 'If a customer walks in and wants to purchase a watch, offer the option to try on a watch. Then help them place an order online or through the Apple Store app.'"

Comments

Brilliant idea

[DogDude]

These guys really are brilliant marketers. Famously brilliant. People who define themselves by the shit they own will eat this up!

Re:Brilliant idea

[neumayr]

I agree, they're really following up on this "cater to the rich guys" business model. Though even though I like some of Apple's products, part of me would really like to see this product to fail. Bring Apple back from being a fashion accessory to a tech company.

Re:Brilliant idea

[gstoddart]

I agree, they're really following up on this "cater to the rich guys" business model

But, but ... they're the ones with all the money.

I'm sure people will go gaga over this. I, and I'm sure many people, will continue to not give a damn about the smart watch market.

It provides me with nothing at all other than another gizmo I don't want or need.

Way to piss off customers, Apple.

[xtal]

Yeah, I see this going well.

This runs contrary to any experience I've had with Apple, especially in their retail stores. If I can't walk in and try something without booking an appointment, it'll be awhile before I get around to buying one.

Boo, hiss. I hope they get an earful over this.

Re:Way to piss off customers, Apple.

[Zocalo]

It's also only for the initial few weeks after launch. This is aimed at getting rid of those queues of people that just *have* to have the latest Apple iThing on launch day from cluttering up the streets around the store, which I'm sure goes over well with the city administration that needs to police the queue and deal with the aftermath - at least some of which I suspect have probably had words with Apple store managers or VPs about it. Unless it's a complete debacle I suspect we'll be seeing similar management of iPad, iPhone and other major product launches.

Re:Way to piss off customers, Apple.

[CastrTroy]

At a price of $350, it's hardly expensive for a watch. I'm sure that requiring the appointment is much more related to getting the thing set up with your iPhone to make sure the whole thing goes seamlessly I could seriously see quite a few people buying one and being disappointed when they couldn't get it to pair properly with their phone, or they don't even own an iPhone, and just expected it to work on it's own. I think they just want to ensure that people get a good experience with the watch. And letting random people buy it off the shelf is probably a sure way to lead to a lot of people who have no idea what the product is, and just giving it bad reviews.

Re:Way to piss off customers, Apple.

[Barlo_Mung_42]

$350 is expensive for a watch that will only last a few years.

Makes sense

[Dan East]

This makes sense for a number of reasons. First, it will keep scalpers from buying up so many devices and selling on eBay. Makes it much easier for Apple to keep track of these people. Second, it will reduce the number of impulse buys for people that don't really understand what the device can, and more importantly, can't do, thus reducing the number of returns and increasing overall customer satisfaction. Sure, it has downsides, but I think the upsides probably win out in this case.

Desperate, not exclusive

[iamacat]

Exclusive is a salesperson spending an hour just with you, patiently helping you to choose just the right style. Like... Macy's, when buying a watch of comparable price! Apple can not sell jewelry for nuts, they should have partnered with stores that have experience with making customers feel exclusive.

Nobody wants this thing, what do we do?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm venturing a guess here - forecasted demand for the watch is low, and will not have the line-forming turnout that keeps Apple products awash in publicity.

They're making it "by appointment only" as a means of disguising this fact.

And if you don't live near an Apple store?

[quetwo]

I live about 85 miles from the closest Apple store.. Pretty much every interaction I've had when them is through an authorized reseller or via web/mail/phone. Forcing you to go to a store to pick one up is pretty much a PITA. Oh, and I don't live in the boondocks -- I'm in a city of 300,000 people, but stuck between two major markets, so Apple has passed us by.

worried about no lines

[xombo]

Apple is worried that there will be no lines and that this will make the news, sending their stock price down.

So, they've created a highly-publicised reservation system to prevent any such news from being relevant.

Remember the Wii

[wisnoskij]

The we don't have enough stock, you have to line up a week in advance to have any change of getting one worked great for them. Artificial scarcity is the best way to increase demand. If American's even has an hint that they might not be able to have something, they just go crazy.