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"if they sell out but only have a small % more products than they have pre-orders for then it suggests they are indeed using scarcity for marketing purposes."
by Samuel_Michon 14y ago
"if they sell out but only have a small % more products than they have pre-orders for then it suggests they are indeed using scarcity for marketing purposes."
I don't think that's the case:
* When Apple allows for pre-ordering, it's rarely more than two weeks in advance.
* On launch day, there are always long lines in front of the Apple Stores, APRs and other retail stores that sell Apple products. The people standing in line haven't pre-ordered, since pre-orders are fulfilled by mail.
* New iDevices are sold in only a few countries at launch. Other countries have to wait weeks (like mainland Europe) or months (like China and India) to get any stock.
- rednukleus 14y agoOh come on, Apple sell out every time they release an iOS product - even when they miss analysts' expectations. They are either really really bad at estimating demand (which I seriously doubt), or they are intending to sell out. It's a perfectly sensible thing to do.
- Samuel_Michon 14y ago"really bad at estimating demand" I won't pretend Apple is bad at estimating demand, even though each new model sells way more units than the last. Tim Cook is famous for his inventory management [1]. I think Apple's manufacturing partners simply cannot produce enough of them (partly because Apple keeps making them harder to manufacture, partly because Apple demands the best prices). Of course, Apple could wait longer, stockpiling units for months, before announcing the products but then production units tend to leak and it allows competitors to catch up. [1] http://www.wired.com/business/2011/08/why-tim-cook/ http://www.wired.com/business/2011/08/why-tim-cook/