Once again, Apple will not sell?

On December 27, the official website of Apple in China launched a new round of "reduction activities". From December 30, 2022 to January 2, 2023, purchase of qualified products using the designated payment method can enjoy the reduction benefits. However, this activity was questioned as "de stocking". More importantly, Apple, as a leading brand, continued to reduce the promotion price, reflecting the innovation dilemma of the mobile phone market.

The preference was questioned

According to the official information, the products participating in this promotional activity include iPhone and iPad, as well as Apple watch, AirPods and MacBook. However, only the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini will participate in the promotion of smart phones. The 128GB version will sell for 5199 yuan and 4499 yuan respectively. The new iPad released this year will not participate in the promotion.

Since this year, Apple's promotional activities have been more than once. Previously, Apple's official website in China showed that from July 29 to August 1, some products in the online store can enjoy discounts ranging from 150 yuan to 600 yuan, including 600 yuan for purchasing the iPhone 13 series.

However, this promotion has caused controversy. Many consumers said that the most direct reason for Apple's move is to go out of stock, because the old products can enjoy the discount. This year, there is no new payment. On the contrary, on the third-party platform, new products are on the list of discounts. For example, the official flagship store of Apple on the Tmall New Year's Merchandise Festival will enjoy a full discount of 450 yuan from 5549 yuan after the sales of the iPhone14 14.

In the face of consumers' doubts, Apple also responded early. In July this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said about the "June 18" shopping festival in China and the rare "discount" on Apple's official website in China, "June 18 is an important shopping festival in China, and before that, we had a strong performance.". He also said that Apple China's four-day iPhone price cut from July 29 to August 1 "has nothing to do with clearing inventory".

In this regard, Hong Shibin, an industry observer, believes that, from the perspective of industrial laws, not only Apple, but also all mobile phone manufacturers are facing a certain degree of inventory pressure. It is understandable to use various means to destock. After all, a brand's sales channels are limited, and it is inevitable that old models will occupy new resources if they are sold.

Experts pointed out that the window period for destocking is often short. From the perspective of time, if the old products do not come off the shelves for several consecutive years, it is bound to disrupt the product line designed by the manufacturer. If the price of the old products is reduced too much, it will also impact the brand's pricing policy. From the channel point of view, inventory products cannot be packaged and sold to offline merchants, because unqualified merchants can hardly guarantee the subsequent return, replacement, warranty and other services, which is easy to damage the brand image, and these factors will bring about inventory pressure.

Promotion refracts dilemma

If we expand our scope of vision, we can see that Apple's promotion is not limited to the Chinese market, but it seems that Apple is playing a soft role in the global market.

For example, at the beginning of this year, Apple issued a policy that as long as customers purchase qualified MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, iPad Pro or iPad Air, they will get the second generation AirPods for free. Overseas promotions are applicable to students and teachers who purchase qualified equipment in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Brazil.

"Black Friday" is also an important node in sales promotion. In the U.S. market, Apple said that it can get a gold gift card of $50 for iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone SE, and up to $75 for AirPods 2, AirPods 3 Lightning ChargingCase, AirPods Max, etc.

In view of Apple's frequent promotional actions, Liang Zhenpeng, a senior industrial economic observer, pointed out that the most important purpose is to increase sales and revenue, and the effect is quite obvious. Against the backdrop of the decline in the mobile phone market and even the 3C product market, Apple's shipments and revenue will still maintain a relatively stable growth in 2022.

The data also supports this view. According to the report released by Counterpoint Research, in October 2022, Apple's monthly market share in China will reach 25%, the highest level in history, and it will become the largest mobile phone brand manufacturer in the Chinese market for two consecutive months. According to the financial report released by Apple, the net revenue in the third fiscal quarter was $82.959 billion, up 2% year on year, including iPhone revenue of $40.67 billion, up 3% year on year.

However, Liang Zhenpeng also stressed that, on the other hand, this is also Apple's overdraft of its brand strength. Over the years, Apple has not introduced epoch-making products. On the contrary, many of its product lines have been closed, and its products have become homogeneous, even with the Android camp.

For example, the "Smart Island" of the iPhone 14 Pro has a similar design on the LG V10, previous Glory phones, and vivo. From the system perspective, the iOS16 upgrade "rest screen display" and "battery percentage" are features that Android has had several years ago.

Experts pointed out that if Apple could not launch new products to surprise the market for a long time, it would be at risk of falling into a "price war" under the homogeneous background, but this is not the area where it is good at.

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Beijing Business Daily | Jin Dynasty Li Wang Zhuli

Image source | Apple official website

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