Apple’s sales in China zoom ahead of competitors

“A year after opening a flagship store here, Apple has a problem that any retailer would envy: the huge 16,000-square-foot space is already too small,” David Barboza reports for The New York Times.

“Huge crowds descend the store’s glass staircase, only to discover legions of mostly young Chinese crowding around spare displays of Apple’s devices,” Barboza reports. “Another Apple Store, four miles away, is also packed.”

Barboza reports, “To cope, Apple says it is now planning a third, even larger Shanghai store, as well as dozens of other stores throughout the country… Analysts say few global brands have achieved such a feat in China. ‘Apple has done what Google and Facebook cannot do: become No. 1 in China,’ said John Quelch, former senior associate dean of Harvard Business School and now head of the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. ‘Scarcity sells, and this is the same strategy Apple has used in the U.S.'”

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“Last week, Apple reported blockbuster sales and profits in its third quarter, including $3.8 billion in revenue in greater China, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong,” Barboza reports. “For the first three quarters of Apple’s fiscal year, revenue in greater China was $8.8 billion — six times that of a year earlier. Last quarter, Apple may have even generated more revenue in China than Lenovo — the Chinese PC maker.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Citymark” for the heads up.]

Related article:
Apple sales set to grow exponentially as Chinese telcos look to offer iPhone – July 25, 2011

20 Comments

  1. Why does this not surprise me? I bet if apple were to sell it’s products in a third world country such as the Philipeses, the sales there would top samsung’s and any other Asian company’s sale in that country.

  2. …..said John Quelch, former senior associate dean of Harvard Business School and now head of the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. “Scarcity sells, and this is the same strategy Apple has used in the U.S.’”

    What a twit this so called John Quelch is. Does he really think SCARCITY caused the CROWDS instead of the other way round; that the crowds caused scarcity. He seems to imply that if MS, DELL or RIMM just caused scarcity of their products then they too could have sought after products.

    Is it really this easy to become a dean of Harvard Business School?

    1. Spot on. Apple has high quality products. THAT’S what sells! Google and Facebook have no products they are just selling people, and China already has lots of those.

  3. I was just in the beautiful Shanghai store, its packed, with people sitting down around the circular staircase downstairs, and all the Macs, iPads in use. I chatted with one of the salespeople (in English) about upgrading my Macbook to a MBP, and tested out some of the gestures in Lion (worst one: the Launchbar pinch motion, others are fine). Of course, the iPads are now used at everytable to compared stats on various models (spec sheets, etc).

    They have hit one out of the park with that store, and it’s got almost nothing to do with the cool architecture.

  4. @G Spanking,
    Nah, he’ s just trying to save us from Prez Urkel and his party the Doofuses. Don’t worry, once your entitlement check runs out, you can wash my car.
    🙂

        1. You are right. It is not fair to Steve Urkel to compare him to our current President, who has spent trillions more than we have, and blames the guy he replaced on the promise that he was the Messiah, who could lower the sea level and bring peace and prosperity to the world. Urkel was never that arrogant or stupid. But O is.

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