Circuit City to sell Macs
updated 04:55 pm EDT, Wed September 6, 2006
Circuit City to sell Macs
A small number of Circuit City retail stores in the eastern U.S. will begin selling a selection of Macs including iMacs, MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and Mac minis next week. The new pilot program is designed to test the waters of Mac sales in Circuit City outlets, which could expand to the retail giant's many other stores should it prove successful. Circuit City employees were sent to Apple's headquarters in Cupertino last week, according to AppleInsider, where they paired up with Apple Solution Consultants for a week of training to effectively market the Mac. "This is a pilot program that's just getting underway and we will evaluate how it is doing over the next several months," said Circuit City spokesman Jim Babb. The retailer will also stock specific Mac software titles and accessories, according to the report.











Circuit City
09/06, 05:10pm reply
They would better served sending their managers somewhere to learn how to effectively utilize more than one cash register at a time.
CeeDion
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2001
Redux
09/06, 05:12pm reply
It seems to me they used to carry iMacs a while back. If the PC-centric attidudes are still around it will not work again. "You don't wnat a Mac...it won't run Windows, ...er wait" "You don't wnat a Mac they are not as fast, ...er um" "You don't want a mac they are more expensive,..er well" "you should get a Mac!"
ClevelandAdv
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Joined: Jul 2004
Blecch.
09/06, 05:29pm reply
Well, this is a stupid move and is going to fail. Maybe if the Circuit City employees were actually able to form complete sentences, and maybe if the employees weren't dependent on commissions from PC hardware companies... then maybe this would work. But it won't work. This is ridiculous.
scotty321
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
Software
09/06, 05:30pm reply
And... how can they possibly make a convincing argument for selling Macs if they don't have any Mac software in their stores? Unreal.
scotty321
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
short lived
09/06, 05:30pm reply
right about the first post! but didn't compUSA sort of fail their program after a while? What happened there? The sales "kids" need to be educated, or at least have a cash incentive to move Macs. They won't sell them on their own.
Chris Paveglio
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2002
circuit city....
09/06, 05:31pm reply
sold macs before. i bought a Performa 550 from them.
then they stopped.
then they sold macs...then they stopped....
either way, they are just like best buy. they can sell them, but the people who work there dont care about apple, and they tell their customers to not buy apple
FastAMX79
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2000
scotty321
09/06, 05:44pm reply
what are you talking about? did you read the article?
"The retailer will also stock specific Mac software titles and accessories, according to the report."
FastAMX79
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2000
maybe not a bad thing
09/06, 06:30pm reply
over my few years i have bought 6 macs (5 new) but my first one was bought at circuit city. never happen though, that store went out of business. they had a mac expert in the store that day demonstrating macs.
gooser
Senior User
Joined: Jun 2006
ceedion
09/06, 08:44pm reply
lol
I cannot tell you how much time I have wasted at Circuit City trying to pay for something that I found myself after hunting around the store (don't even bother trying to find help...). F'ing idiots.
I cannot believe these stores still exist with their generally horrible customer service and undereducated staff (not educated in what they sell).
shawnce
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2000
could work
09/06, 08:46pm reply
"Maybe if the Circuit City employees were actually able to form complete sentences, and maybe if the employees weren't dependent on commissions from PC hardware companies... then maybe this would work. But it won't work. This is ridiculous."
Actually, Circuit City employees no longer recieve any form of commission (as a former employee of their computer department I know this first hand). That ceased to be about 3-4 years ago. They also have to undergo relatively extensive training about various products before they're allowed on the sales floor. Whether or not they remember the training remains to be seen.
Regardless, when I worked there just under two years ago in college, I saw one very important thing that would easily drive CC employees to sell Macs over PC's (or at the very least not discourage the sales). Their performance is ranked based on "dollars per hour," ie: the dollar amount of the transactions they sold that night divided by the hour they work. They don't get paid on that, no, but it does prevent them from getting fired (awful place to work, btw). Because Macs carry higher prices than regular desktop PC's, a CC sales associate could make his or her night by selling one $2,000 Mac versus having to sell 4 $500 PC's. And they'll actually want to encourage people to buy extra software and peripherals because their sales scores are based on up-sells as well.
Now mind you there are most certainly some very anti-Mac idiots out there, but they're becoming less and less vocal as Macs become more and more compelling.
bdusen
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001