GameStop announced last week that is compiling the number of stores that sell Mac products and are not productive in the United States, after less than four years after the acquisition and expansion of Apple dealers and service providers. These pseudo franchises make the times of Apple store in smaller markets.
Testimonies of all kinds were received during the collection of information. For example, that of a dissatisfied owner of an authorized dealer of Apple services. He said that the underlying problems that caused the reduction of the program Simply Mac are “much deeper” than it seems. He said that his propiao business is being devoted to the closing since Apple have “strangled you slowly” with margins and demanding “free work”.
Another owner of a dealer and Apple service provider said that this type of business had been “besieged” for years. This person, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that the profit margins are “terribly low” and that Apple considers its service partners authorized as “nothing more than glorified television repairmen”.
“I am sad to say that I don’t see that this is changing,” said the anonymous witness. “Apple is well aware of our concerns and does not seem to affect him. As a distributor of Apple with more than 20 years, I thought that when Apple reached the success we included in this, but not so”, said the affected.
Given these negative comments on the topic of the associated distributors, they decided to reach a significant number of them in the United States and Canada, to see if there is any validity to these claims. Many of those who contacted refuted the accusations, pointing out that they are stable business growth. It is learned that Apple has made adjustments that may explain the pressure felt by some partners from sales and services, especially the smaller and with fewer sales.
Since August 2015, Apple has reduced the profit margins for resellers, who will have to pay more upfront for all products. Apple, therefore, renegotiates the difference of checks sent monthly to the resellers, but this method requires you to wait longer to receive the payment in its entirety. In other words, while the margins did not change in general, sellers are being forced to pay more upfront in Apple products for sale, which restricts the flow of cash that otherwise could be used for the operations of the day by day, the wages of employees and other expenses. For smaller distributors, the change can be particularly painful.
Meanwhile, another distributor consulted believed that you arguably mediocre 2016 Apple was result of the fall of reseller sales year after year. “I wouldn’t say that Apple has been demanding any kind of free labor,” said a manager of service to MacRumors. “However, every time you send us customers for iPhone service, do not pay well. We pay more for ten-minute service to Mac for one hour of work on iPhone”
“I am pleased to say that Apple really valued service partners and increased compensation for warranty work,” said another dealer. “If the status of premium service provider cannot reach, are obtained good profits along with a greater compensation. Although it is not perfect, in the service Apple really seems to care about us and is constantly trying to improve things for us.”
MacMedics is a top quality Apple authorized service provider with two locations in Maryland, Severna Park and Lanham, and another in Philadelphia. “We are doing very well, we have expanded, and a new point of sale be opened in 2015. Apple gives us a lot of support and guidance”, said Dana Stibolt, President of MacMedics. “We are very encouraged by the trends of increase over the past year and, in fact, we are hiring more staff.”
