Costco to stop selling Apple products

Funny. I went to Costco yesterday to buy some discounted iTunes cards and the clerk told me that they stopped selling them two weeks ago. There's no where to buy them discounted anymore.

I think this is just another example of apple being unwilling to support their retail partners. I'm sure Costco must sell A LOT of iPods, I bought mine there and also 3 iPhones (yes Costco in Canada sells them). I don't think either company wants to stop the partnership. To me .. If Wallmart sells iPads .. So should Costco. The average Costco customer has DOUBLE the household income of a Walmart customer so you know Costco customers can afford to buy an iPad if they want.

Before I get attacked by the apple cult members, I own an use a MacBook and iPhone daily, I just don't drink the same Kool-Aid as you. ;)

Costco's business model is that they cannot charge more than 15% above their procurement cost. That obviously can't be the case with Apple products so Apple and Costco weren't a good fit to begin with.

Not sure if that had anything to do with it but I wouldn't be surprised. Costco, unlike Walmart, is a very ethical company.

Proof? Watch the documentary "Walmart, the high cost of low price" then go to a Costco store, as I did having first researched the company to see if there was any difference. Ask the Costco employees how they are treated and how long they've been working there. Health plans for part-timers? Cashiers making $40k after 3 years?

I haven't and won't step inside another Walmart ever again.

BTW 85% of Costco's revenue comes from memberships not markup.

I read this back in october, they stopped/will stop selling apple products because of the deal apple made with sams club to sell the ipad, excluding costco from the deal.


http://www.macrumors.com/2010/10/15/costco-dropping-ipod-after-being-left-out-of-ipad-surge/

That makes sense. Apple REALLY doesn't want retailers selling these for $5 over "wholesale". Apple doesn't want Apple's retail stores competing with likes of Costco. The problem for places like Costco is that Apple's toys have HUGE markups... because Apple Stores are at expensive mall locations and Apple needs a price that will cover Retail, Online, and Resellers.

Of course Costco's whole model is buy in volume and undercut by a few points of profit margin. It's an OK model for some things like cereal or soup that's made in big factories from lots of different suppliers, but for something like Apple's products this amounts to "dumping" and Apple has no need of the extra volume as iThings sell well enough on their own. Costco was really only using them as a traffic driver anyway, the only people that would buy from Costco over the Apple Store if they had a choice are grandmas and cheapskates.... Apple really doesn't want to start competing on $1 price differences.

I find the warehouse stores really don't have much in the way of stuff over regular stores like Walmart anymore. Almost everything at my local SAM's is within a few pennies of the Walmart price. The only real benefit they have any more is that they carry "giant" stuff the retail stores don't carry... tires, mattresses, furnature, 1 Gross of TP, etc.

Not a surprise, let's take a look at (probably) a typical shopper that patronizes Costco: mouth breathing Windows users with no money to spend. They are there to scarf down the free food and drink samples, make long lines at the rotisserie chicken department (what's the obssession with that, there aren't lines at regular grocery store meat departments), and buy giant vats of mayo and pickles and purchase irregular clothing items. And then when they are finished they plunk down $8 to feed a family of four at one of those greasy spoons at the end of the check out line.

These are exactly high end shoppers at this chain. They are too used to Dell computers being $299 or whatever they are.

This is a couple months old. Part of the reason is also that Apple won't sell them the iPad. All of my local Costcos have been out of iPods for almost a month now.