TJ Maxx and Marshall’s are selling a limited number of iPads for $100 off their retail price at random outlets this Black Friday weekend, but as Steve Jobs made abundantly clear in an e-mail yesterday, they’re not an authorized reseller.
Where’d TJ Maxx get all the iPads then? Easy. They might not be an official reseller, but that hasn’t stopped them from buying from one… or reselling those iPads at a loss.
Why? It’s all about promotion. Analysts suggest that the number of iPads available from TJ Maxx was actually quite small, perhaps less than 100. If that’s true, then for the price of $10,000, TJ Maxx and Marshalls were not only able to generate national attention during a notoriously deal-heavy shopping season, but drive thousands of customers who might otherwise not have come into their stores, scouring for discount iPads.
Sounds like a hell of an effective advertising campaign to me, especially for the price. Let’s hope we see more of this.
