Apple has limited stock of the Apple Watch to electrical stores despite online pre-order supplies having already sold out.
CEO of Dixons Carphone, Sebastian James, has told customers that the electricals retailer will begin selling the Apple watch in “due course”.
Dixons Carphone has been unable to confirm when the watch will be available in stores as Apple continues to limit Apple Watch numbers to its own stores and selected upmarket retailers such as fashionable department store chain Selfridges.
Apple‘s exclusivity doesn‘t end there. The watches, which can be brought for as much as £17,000 for the standard model, and up to a £100,000 for limit edition models, can only be worn now through pre-booked “try-on” appointments. The device will go on sale come 24 April but customers will not be able to make walk-in purchases of the device straight away. Instead they will only have the option to buy online until June, when the Apple Watch becomes available to buy in-store at an unknown date.
Apple cites that the limiting decisions were a result of “high global interest” outweighing the small supply in the first instance. The tech giant is attempting to stop typically long release date queueing outside stores and this clean-up suits the style of the refined, upmarket timepieces. But how will this impact on the revenue of electronics stores?
With the growth of the internet and consumers increasing demand for ‘fast retail‘, brick-and-mortar stores are left competing for sales. It seems Dixons Carphone has been left in the dark while Apple reports £2.3m of pre-order watch sales.
James recently tweeted a picture of the company‘s multichannel boss Jeremy Fennell trying on the £13,000 version of the smartwatch. The post was accompanied with reassurances that Dixons Carphone would be selling the device as soon as possible.
By Natalie Whitmore
