“Best Buy recently posted solid second-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines thanks to robust demand for Apple devices like the Apple Watch,” Leo Sun writes for The Motley Fool. “Last quarter, Best Buy’s revenue rose 0.8% annually to $8.53 billion, beating expectations by $240 million. Comparable-store sales climbed 3.8%, while the consensus estimate was for 1% growth. Non-GAAP earnings rose 17.6% to $174 million, or $0.49 per share, topping expectations by $0.15. Best Buy’s strong domestic sales, which climbed 3.9% to $7.88 billion, offset a 26% sales decline in its smaller international segment.”
“During the conference call, CEO Hubert Joly noted that… in the wearables segment, the Apple Watch was a standout performer during the quarter. Joly declared that “demand for Apple Watch has been so strong” that Best Buy now plans to sell Apple Watches at all 1,050 of its big-box stores and 30 of its Best Buy Mobile Stores by the end of September. That’s a big increase from its original plan to sell the device at 300 locations by this holiday season,” Sun writes. “Best Buy will also upgrade Apple’s shop-in-shops at 740 locations with new fixtures and display tables for phones, tablets, and computers. The upgrades have already been completed at 350 stores, and another 170 locations will be completed before the holiday season starts.”
Sun writes, “Tightening its relationship with Apple helps Best Buy stay relevant against online-only competitors.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We can think of better things worth saving than freakin’ Best Buy, but if they’re going to carry Apple products and do it the right way (for a change), then more power to ’em!
SEE ALSO:
Apple Watch primed for mainstream appeal with full-scale Best Buy rollout – August 26, 2015
Best Buy CEO: Apple Watch demand is ‘so strong’ that we’re expanding sales to all 1,050 stores – August 25, 2015
The Apple Watch experience: Greater than the sum of its parts – August 20, 2015
Apple Watch owners vastly prefer Apple Watch to iPhone for Apple Pay – August 18, 2015
Apple stock halts slide as Best Buy begins selling Apple Watch in stores and online – August 7, 2015
I’m with MDN’s take on Best Buy.
If one itty-bitty product among the hundreds that Best Buy sells will “save” Best Buy from retail ruin this emphasizes the utter failure of the Best Buy business model rather than the economic influence of Apple Watch.
Yes. Yes, they did.
Yesterday I went to the Apple Store in the Grove to drop off a laptop. I was 3 minutes late for my appointment window. That was due to the fact I was buying Apple products (7 iMacs ) at 3rd party Apple vendor that I like.
Being late for the repair, one of the 8 or so people who were standing there doing nothing except check in, told me “Sorry. You have to make another appointment.”
I said, “Look. Can’t one of these people who is just standing here doing absolutely nothing, just take down my problem description, tag this machine, put it in the back, and go back to dong absolutely nothing?”
It apparently doesn’t work that way. I had to bitch until they literally ALLOWED me to sit there for a couple of hours to check the MacBook Pro in.
The clerk, who I call “Mr. Hand on hip” who never looks you in the eye asked, “Why don’t you come here for your business account?” I said, “Seriously?”
The place was PACKED with people trying to learn to work their products. 0, and i mean ZERO people were looking at the watch displays.
YO Angela…
The Apple Store is less than a good experience these days. You’ve got a ton of people standing around dong nothing, and another ton answering the “What happens if I forget my password” type questions, and a crap load of customers staring at the ceiling.
During the day a nice chardonnay or Pinot gris/Grigio and tuna tartare and in the evenings a red (a few selections) or one good house, some cheese, and some Thelonious Monk in the background.
Listening to many of the techs supply answer to customers like “Time Machine is the absolute only way to back up your entire Mac” it seems you’ve been pushing diversity a bit over quality.
So basically, how much worse could Best Buy be at this point? It appears they actually need people who can sell product and fix products at this point.
It’s a shame. Used to be so much fun to go to the Apple Store. It’s right up there with the Post Office now, one step beneath the DMV.
Yeesh! That’s truly embarrassing Apple service. 😖😝😡
I really don’t try to ask the Genius a question either, just get the darned product fixed or replaced.
What I hear from other customers at the Genius bar, though, is that Apple has missed something. They are answering obvious and simple questions which should not go to the Genius Bar.
When a customer comes in and wants to ask questions, they have “tons” of machines able to respond to simple questions which Apple’s customer support department already has listed out for their people to reply with.
Why not put an “Ask Me a Question.” dialog on the Macs which are set for customers to approach first in seeking answers. That is exactly what Macs are designed to do.
If only Siri could handle that….
And the DMV has actually improved lately. I went in for a license renewal, and by God, they had a line for Renewals only, and I was in and out in 5 minutes. Shocking.
Wish it were just the stores. I had the now infamous, lost my ratings and lyrics data on iTunes, possibly due to “a conflict between iTunes Match and Apple Music.” I went through the phone and screen sharing thing with a Senior Advisor, who was very nice, but unable to solve the problem. He referred it to an “iTunes T2 Advisor who took a couple of days to write me to tell me to turn Match on and off. I wrote back to tell him, no go, and said maybe a call from him to talk about it might help. He wrote me back with the Apple Support phone numbers and said “I hope this information proves helpful in resolving the problem.” Nothing more. I wrote back a bit of a nastygram and he hasn’t even bothered to respond! Shocking and not at all the experience I’ve always enjoyed. Very different support environment out there these days (Hope Tim and Eddie enjoyed my email about it, but I don’t know, since I haven’t heard boo from Apple in three days).
The only time I go into an Apple Store is when I’m in a bad mood and feel like punching someone wearing napkin rings in their earlobes.
We can only hope that the upcoming retail redesign will address these issues, and not simply make the stores prettier. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it still tastes like bacon.
Did meet a nice lady named Helga from Iceland. Her MacBook Pro wouldn’t start. I reset the SMC and it started up. The Apple girl came back and asked what I did? I told her I reset the SMC. It happens sometimes. Helga was happy, and decided to leave, and I asked if I could have Helga’s appointment? Nope. Doesn’t work that way. Someone needs to learn to think differently again.
That experience made me shiver not what once we expected of Apple, wonder what Steve would have thought of that.
When Apple Computer was selling devices to help people Think Different, they worked your problems with you. Seem Apple has morphed into a consumer electronics company under the guidance of a bureaucratic fashionista. Does not bode well.
Aside from saving Best Buy, maybe they need to save themselves, at least a little bit.
‘Tis the hazard of growing big. Bureaucracy is a necessary evil for any large company but it can threaten to undermine employee creativity and initiative if left unchecked.
Citizens of the free world, please don’t panic. I know it’s pretty well non-existent to read the word “save” in a headline here and some of you might be wondering if something dramatic has happened.
Not quite, for you see every few years Apple’s home country has an election and unlike other nations their campaign process is really incredibly long in duration. This time provide a window of peace as they are highly unlikely to invade anyone at this time.
So relax and enjoy your day.
I seriously doubt the retail markup on Apple Watch sales is going to “save” Best Buy, but if BB is going to upgrade their Apple displays then everyone wins.
I concur with Thelonius about Apple Stores. Best Buys are open and inviting. The local Apple Store is always swamped and a stressful place to be. It’s the same store as 10 years ago, when there was a mere fraction of the post-iPhone customer base. They need to triple their space, but that’s not easy to do if they won’t build stand alone stores. There’s been shockingly little investment in the only NE Florida store.
I like Best Buy. They were a step up from Comp USA and Good Guys. I’ve shopped BB in at least three states. They have clean bright stores, and the prices are quite competitive.
I recently bought online a couple of Western Digital drives, both My Passport For Mac, and picked them up in their dedicated line for pre-paid merchandise. Went fast.
Have never liked the Apple Store look, and the lack of noise dampening keeps them loud. Apple has also kept them small, at least the ones in Palo Alto and Berkeley and Emeryville. Maybe some people like that night club feel.
Ever since one of the Apple stores refused to exchange a pair of headphones I bought there, I’ve been less interested in giving them my money for the truly expensive stuff.
Wow, no one is talking about how this dispelles the crap that Apple Watch is not selling. BB has been selling other smart watches but has not helped them. A product sells so well in their test stores that they quickly putting them in all the stores. They are revamping the Apple store within a store, and bringing all their products together. Now Samsung won’t look like the bright new place. Admit it the watch is selling better than expected. Tim Cook is doing something right. BB is in a lot more places than Apple stores so the numbers are going up.
Sorry MDN, Best Buy IS worth saving. Without them, who is left? No more Future Shop, no more COMP-USA, no more Circuit City, no more Ultimate Electronics. Best Buy is practically the last real life brick and mortar electronics store around.