Hello.
Marie Antoinette is credited with the phrase: “If they have no bread, then let them eat cakes.” That’s just its author – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, by today’s standards, he can be called an oppositionist who slandered those in power for his own reasons. He supported the revolution, promoted his ideas for organizing society and unwittingly created a historical anecdote that many perceive as reality. A no less anecdotal event forced me to recall this hackneyed phrase. It happened in early March and attracted the attention of a huge number of publications, the number of publications goes into the hundreds, as if there were no other topics at that time. The express food delivery service Samokat, owned by Sberbank, has launched the sale of Apple technology, in particular, you can order an iPhone for yourself, which will be delivered in half an hour.
A classic of the genre in the Madness Around Us category, something like selling contraceptives in bakeries – after all, almost everyone goes there for bread, and you can sell different goods, the people are the same. But somehow it’s sloppy, and you don’t expect to see such a product in a bakery, you won’t look for it there. However, when you open the Scooter application, you see the usual set of goods, what you can chew, household chemicals, and the like. The same iPhones are impossible to eat, but, according to the logic of service managers, this is a matter of prime necessity. Affordable devices for every resident of Russia who periodically buys them and this is a repeatable action.
Expansion of the product offer at the expense of the iPhone became possible after Apple left Russia. In March 2022, she ended all relations with partners, now there are no official deliveries, there are no authorized resellers, but some of them hold on to the name for good measure. As if a rotten sign from Apple gives them some advantages, elevates them above others. This is how DNS describes its relationship with Apple on the site.
It is clear that no one is checking this, no one is chasing anyone, and you can safely claim that you are anyone – an Apple Authorized Partner, Apple’s Best Seller, and so on. No one will come to you, and in Russia there are more and more stores that simply use the name of the company or some devices in the sign, launch their without looking at the company. Volnitsa, do what you want.
After tough shipping conditions, the inability to sell the iPhone without a shout-out from the Apple office, which could lead to real prosecution, the market has blossomed. Today, the iPhone has become a commodity that can be found in the most unusual places. And if in an independent regional retailer that sells phones, it looks good, then in jewelry stores it looks strange, no less surprising than in the same “Scooter”.
Apple’s share over the past year in Russia has fallen sharply, in February 2022 it amounted to 17% in pieces. Today, just under 6%, despite the fact that the gray market is working, there are parallel imports and the number of points where iPhones are sold has increased dramatically. This product, by the presence on the shelves of different stores, can really be interpreted as mass, luxury goods are not sold like that. Let me remind you that in all respects, the iPhone is a pure and uncomplicated luxury: price, positioning, rather modest capabilities compared to direct competitors.
But most importantly, the emergence of a bunch of unprofessional luxury merchants has made the already problematic product in the face of the iPhone completely unprofitable for business. Don’t believe? Let’s look at iPhone sales on Wildberries, for example, take the iPhone 13 128 GB from Hong Kong.
The price for Wildberries is 58,392 rubles (128 GB), the position appears and disappears, they are traded very briskly. In Hong Kong, the cost of this device is $630. Let’s add VAT and logistics here, multiply by 1.22. We get 768.6 dollars. Let’s take the dollar exchange rate 77.5, total 59,566 rubles. And this is the wholesale cost in Russia, not retail. To check, we look at DNS, they have a clearly defined unit economy, their price is 68,500 rubles. That is roughly a difference of 10 thousand, and it is fully justified by the economy. Conclusion? Wildberries sells not just below the market, there is no way to earn at all. And what to call it, if not discounts?
Are there many players like Wildberries? There are enough, and the farther such a store is from the electronics market, the harder it is for them to sell the iPhone, and a lot of money is buried in it, hence discounts arise, and the goods are sold to zero. Plus, you need to compete with the gray market, where the price is at least 20% lower than described above. Wherever you throw, everywhere is a wedge.
Beginners fly into the iPhone topic out of ignorance, as a rule, they themselves have such a phone, they are sure that all other owners are ready to pay almost any money for it and business will happen. Hence the mass deliveries, which do not find guaranteed demand, stocks of iPhones of different models, not the most popular, are gradually growing in warehouses.
It gets ridiculous when they try to promote this topic with the help of PR, to evoke a herd instinct. A journalist from a major news agency approached me, he claimed that one of the operators shared statistics and the number of iPhone 13 Pro Max soared in Moscow, this is the third device by the number in people’s hands! I was stunned by these figures, spent half an hour to count, look at the statistics – there is nothing even nearby. Moreover, interestingly, if we take all the iPhone 13 Pro Max imported into the country, then they will not be enough for this operator to take the model into third place in terms of use. We’ll have to bring a couple of hundred thousand more devices. But even such bikes arise from nothing, because you need to somehow promote falling sales. The reason is obvious – the sanctions, people are not sure that the iPhone will not turn into a brick, and gradually creep over to Android. The trend began back in 2021, but has gained momentum only now, there are many factors. And it is impossible to break it, you can fight it with the same success as scooping up the sea with a leaky bucket. The process is exciting, the result is so-so.
I thought about why there is such an attitude towards the iPhone in Russia, and not only here. With aspiration, with adoration, with a shutdown of the brain. The answer is obvious, this is a status item that shows everyone that you are doing well in life. “friend or foe” system. Buy even the most expensive Samsung, it does not have this system, it is not a luxury product, and that says it all. But the iPhone demonstrates, according to some people, their achievements. And few people are embarrassed that today the iPhone can be found in anyone, even a cleaning lady or a truck driver, even a businessman. Indeed, this apparatus has turned into buns for the people and enjoys the support of all sections of the population. But during a crisis, this support begins to evaporate, plus a zoo from different sales channels, leapfrog with prices – all this repels, first of all, those who sell them, they are convinced that their stereotypes do not work. And for Apple sales, this is the biggest nuisance.
It is impossible to sell any product with a minimum margin or no margin at all, this is a road to nowhere. Today, it is the wide distribution of the iPhone that supports its share, albeit a rather small one. At the next stage, it will be reduced, non-professional players will leave. The same “Scooter” has already stopped selling the iPhone, the experiment quickly ended, which was to be proved.