Earlier today, we brought you a report from CrunchGear about a Best Buy employee who had revealed that the retail giant was deliberately saving stock of the iPad 2 once it had met its sales quotas each day – a technique that apparently didn’t sit too well with Apple.
Since then, Best Buy has denied rumors that it has fallen out with the Cupertino company, and declared it was holding stock of the iPad 2 for an “upcoming promotion.”
In an official statement sent to Boy Genius Report, Best Buy said:
Best Buy continues to receive iPad 2 inventory from Apple on a regular basis. As we’ve said previously, we are fulfilling customer reservations first.
Our stores have been asked to temporarily hold non-reserved iPad 2 inventory for an upcoming promotion. This is a customary practice for us when there are supply constraints. Best Buy enjoys a great partnership with Apple, and we’re delighted by customer response to iPad 2.
While Best Buy seem to have clarified the issue of holding stock, it did not comment on a claim that its employees were lying to customers by informing them they had no stock of the second generation device, when in fact its stock rooms could be littered with them.
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
28 responses to “Best Buy Confirms They Are Saving iPad 2 Stock for “Upcoming Promotion””
Sales staff are often not privy to the contents of stock rooms outside of what their inventory look up systems tell them. ANd if the system tells them that there are 0 available for immediate sale then there are 0. That there are 1000 sitting back there no available for immediate sale is often totally unknown to them.
why do you need to stockpile for a ‘promotion’ when people are still lining up to buy them and there’s a backlog of orders?
that’ sounds like b.s.
More probably they are left with a piles of unsold Galaxy Tabs, Xooms etc which are rapidly losing their value and trying to off load them first to unsuspecting customers .
As a former employee of Bestbuy I will say that’s half true. You are not allowed to sell any stock marked for promotion, but everyone knows they’re there. There are no “stock rooms” in Best Buys. There is just the warehouse, and it’s huge, but has no walls. If it was up top in an area you needed the lift to get to they might be able to keep it quiet, but only if LP/warehouse didn’t talk to any floor people.
I don’t ever hold it against sales though if they tell me there out of stock and management told them to say that, and I’m a person that’s been dying to get an Ipad 2 and can’t find one in town.
I work at Best Buy and can say we definitely aren’t hiding any iPads in our store.
But if we were, I’d 100% tell a customer we didn’t. I’ve been honest with customers before about having to hold inventory for sales promotions and it’s never pretty. Most customers don’t handle it like Nero, and flip out.
Most stores have to hold inventory for sales promotion, Best Buy is no different.
I heard that Apple had banned Best Buy for hoarding the iPads.
Best Buy is not the only store selling iPad 2. What is going to happen is that a big stock of iPads will remain and they won’t be able to sell them. The iPad 2 can also be purchased on my website without any problem. You can even obtain a free iPad 2 on my website if you follow certain conditions.
another hideous practice I have witnessed is:
“are you going to buy additional insurance with your Ipad2? no? hmmm let me check in the back if we still have stock……. oh I am sorry we must have just run out….”
Hope Apple takes off their list of resellers
Go back and sell windoz box you so much loved a few years ago…
You’ve obviously never worked retail.
It’s called ad minimums people. You put iPad 2 in an ad you have to declare a minimum quantity each store will have available so there is not a bait and switch issue. Grab a freaking ad and look at the hot items. I love that people believe whatever they read. “Holding product after they meet their sales quota”. That’d be great if revenue, bonuses, and shareholder reports were measured daily but they are not. Almost as ridiculous as people believing the duct-taped iPad ad for the asus tab was actually made by best buy. Damn people are gullible.
best buy – “buy one 16 GB iPad get a second iPad for only 499”
There is no point in holding them for a promo! They’re selling like crazy anyway! That is just stupid!!! They’re prob just holding them until apple buys back all the ipad 1s so Best Buy isn’t the one standing when the music stops on iPad 1s…
I reserved an iPad 2 with Best Buy 30 days ago. I talked with an associate today (at the Dublin, CA store) and he said that they had not received a new unit in 2 weeks. Seems like Best Buy is being blacklisted.
I continue to call Best Buy stores that claim on their websites that they are “in stock” only to find that this is inaccurate. I traveled through AZ this weekend to find that although they had some Ipad2s, they were not able to sell them due to an “upcoming promotion”. If I would have known that it was going to be a mission to get my IPAD2 through BB I would have made sure that friends would have bought me Apple GC instead off BB Gc for my birthday. I am disgusted with BB and I am almost ready to sell my BB GC and just buy my IPAD2 through Apple online. It is a damn shame that this company can’t get it together. I will never ever buy anything through BB again. Horrible experience.
I called a best buy 10 mins ago and they told me they have some but can’t sell them till the next promotion (in this case sunday), they said this was in agreement with apple