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Red Nano in Kuwait

red nano

Mac & More in Marina Mall have the red iPod Nano in stock but they are selling it for KD95 for some reason which is too expensive. Probably because they have a limited quantity, when I checked they had just 2 left.

41 replies on “Red Nano in Kuwait”

But then again, you are never sure about the money going to the Aids campaign when you spend it at Mac & More. I mean the bought it off of Apple but when you buy it from them, you’ll be paying more and nothing extra will go anywhere right?

the money for the aids campaign was already paid when mac & more bought the ipods from apple at half the tag price.

yeah but compare it to other prices in kuwait. zmacshop which has the cheapest prices and they sell the 8gb for 88kd and its grey market ipods. pay 6kd more skip the hawalli traffic and but it from an official dealer u know. mac city sell it for 114kd, thats mother fucking expensive.

i don’t get it. do we or do we not have official apple resellers in Kuwait?
I can understand why zmacshop be expensive, because they buy their products off the shelves from abroad (you can still see the US price tags ripped off).
but if Mac & More is official agent/reseller for Apple in Kuwait, then why are they over pricing? do they believe that Kuwaitis are so stupid they would buy expensive just to say they have *something*? I think the only reason why iPods became popular is their prices, and what I see here is insane.

zMacShop buys the stuff from the US. Mac&More is an official apple reseller and so is forced to buy the stuff from UAE, who buy it from France and UK. France and UK’s prices are more expensive then US. If you go to Apple US Store online and Apple UK store online you can see the difference in prices.

for example, 80GB ipod costs KD129 on amazon.co.uk but costs only KD95 on Amazon.com

there is no way out of it, if they want to be official apple retailer in kuwait they need to get their stuff from UAE who get it from UK.

There is always a way, from my point of view,they rip the kuwaitis off (nobody else will buy it). There are a lot of people here who have to much money and less information. They just buy what is avaiable. Imagine, we are in a country without tax and I buy nearly all my stuff in US, it is with shipping much cheaper than here. A lot of People here are not informed enough and pay every price.

Okay, I just checked Apple store for both the UK and the US.
There seems to be a fixed difference between the US and the UK, which is the US price X 1.2 = UK price.
Now thats not a huge difference. I really don’t know why its there, but a little search will probably give a reasonable explanation.
Back to Kuwait, when you say Kuwait buy from UAE, thats nothing special really since all distributors are located in Dubai. Whether you’re talking about Microsoft, Dell, HP, Apple, Canon or whatever… an official reseller/agent in Kuwait who buys from the UAE distributor does not mean higher prices. It should means same cost to resellers whether they’re Mac&More, a tiny shop in Hawally, or one of those places in UAE like PlugIns or CompuMe.
OK, now again, who are you blaming?
Are you blaming it on Dubai? You can’t blame it on Dubai because Dubai’s distributor sell at the same price whether he’s selling to Kuwaiti reseller or Emirati reseller. So that leaves you with the British and French branches, but you can’t blame those either, because prices in UAE are waaaaaaaay less than Kuwait.

And by the way, All countries (whether its the US, UK, or UAE -Dubai) they all get their items straight from Apple China.

By the way… if the US or UK price for an iPod is say 80 KD, that doesn’t mean the UAE distributor will buy it for that price, and then add a profit over this and sell it to Kuwait, who will have to pay for shipping and customs and then add their profit.
no it doesn’t work like this.
just in case there are newbies around here and have no idea how things work :p

dude you have a problem when it comes to factual information. you are complicating things here and stating incorrect facts like UAE get their iPods from China.

Let me take u step by step on the process.

Apple UK is more expensive then Apple US. Now we compare Apple prices in Kuwait to Apple prices in US which is wrong. We should compare it to the UK or even better UAE.

Now you are saying Apple UAE don’t get the ipods for KD80. True, they get it for less so what? They don’t get it for a price less then Apple retailers in the US. If they did then iPod wouldnt be expensive in Kuwait.

Now iPod in US costs 95KD while same iPod in UK costs KD129. Thats not 1.2 thats over 1.3x. But it doesnt matter if its 1.2 or 1.4.

Now keep in mind UAE are buying the stuff from the UK right? They then sell it to Kuwait but they dont sell it at cost price. This means if Apple UK get the iPod for KD120, they sell it for example to Apple UAE for KD130 who then sell it to Kuwait for KD140. For example, these numbers are not accurate just showing you the process to get to Kuwait. Each person is making money and since we are at the end of the line it costs more here then the place it originated from.

If Kuwait gets it directly from the UK it would be cheaper but they dont. Also its shipping from UK to UAE and then UAE to Kuwait plus taxes this is extra stuff that adds up other then the comission UAE and UK are taking.

This is why Apple prices in Kuwait are expensive.

Btw

8GB nano
in Kuwait costs KD95
in UK costs KD85
in USA costs KD72

So from UK through UAE to Kuwait and price only increased by KD10. If you are in UK and you buy an iPod there you pay VAT i think of around 17.5% which brings it to around KD100. So basically you can get 8GB iPod nano in Kuwait cheaper then you can if you lived in the UK.

Of course I am not saying the prices in Kuwait are cheap, I would for sure rather have the US prices here, that would be amazing.

Mark, i think you are wrong. Companys calculate there selling prices according to market situation.Because of that, a german car is cheaper in spain than in germany (with the much higher shipping costs to spain). The market here is just to stup.. uninformed. As long Apple can sell there stuff here nothing will change. My Ibook will be from apple.com, no question.

Jens

You are right Jen. What happened was a guy from Apple visited 5 countries in the region. He came to see the market and make sure the prices of their products fit the market.

now imagine you come to kuwait and spend 2 days here, imagine your friend takes you out to the gulf road and past marina mall. How many Lambos and Ferraris do you see on your way? What kind of impression would u get from Kuwait. Thats what actually happened, its a true story. Guy from Apple spent some time in 5 (or 6) countries int he region and left thinking that the region has a lot of money.

He even went to Lebanon which isn’t a rich country but he saw the night life there and how people spend on partying and he is like there are a lot of people who have money.

Thats why they aren’t making special prices for the Middle East. Some guy from Apple thinks the majority of people are well off.

lol. okay Mark whatever. If you believe all what you said then its your problem, not mine. After all, the whole point of this Blog is to sell stuff, right? :p
Again, just to prove my point incase someone is truly interested.
go to apple.com/store and apple.com/uk/store
you should see that both 80 Gb are listed as follows:
$349.00
£220.43
if you want to bother, you can go to xe.com and use their currency converter to check how much that is worth in Kuwaiti Dinars. OKAY? then you can check the 1.3 of yours and see if it truly exists.

Now, with all respect, what you said about price increase from the time ipod is sold in the UK to the time its sold in Kuwait is bull****. I believe you have some resellers browsing your blog, and you can ask them whether you are right or wrong. that is if you truly don’t know how things work and you were not just trying to give reasons why mac prices are high in Kuwait.

Now…
You say that Apple UK is the regional office that supply the mideast distributor with mac products.
if this is true then, Apple UK sells -say- the iPods at prices less than what is in the UK. so if you claim its 120 KD in UK amazon, then UAE apple distributor should get it LESS than 120 KD… they get it LESS than the UK resellers. When you say mideast distributor (located in UAE) buy their stuff from the UK, it doesn’t mean they walk into an apple reseller shop and they buy the iPods. NO.
They buy the products while they’re still in the factory in CHINA. Remember, they deal with Apple UK regional office. Not Apple UK oxford store!
After the mideast distributor (located in UAE) buys the -say- ipods, they are sent to jabal ali. I don’t think Apple management is too stupid to ship the ipods from china to uk and then back to UAE. they ship it straight from the factory to the distributor. at least thats how all businesses in the world work.

after it arrives to jabel ali, they leave the ipods in their boxes, in storage. they don’t take them out and put them on shelves. okay? so they open their emails or check their faxes. there they should find orders from resellers in Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Saudi Lebanon and whatever.
NOW they set the price, and reply to all those emails and faxes. The price SHOULD be the same to all those places. which is STILL UNDER the price you see at the UK amazon. This is because Apple UK expect the iPod to be sold at around the same price if possible.
only after the ipods are sold from the UAE distributor to the local resellers the price differences will start showing. and that is due to shipping from jabel ali to Kuwait. but anyways most huge kuwaiti companies already have their own means of transportation from jabel ali to Kuwait and it will not cost them as much as small companies who just started business.

Question…
if we stick with your story, and we believed its true. Then may i ask:
how come HP products don’t have that huge gap between Kuwait and UAE? and you can even dare and comper them with the UK and the US if you want. Kuwait resellers buy their HP products from UAE, and UAE also deals directly with the UK not US.

And here is another thing, I was just checking out Leica cameras, and I found something interesting, Panasonic products in Kuwait are about 5 KD more expensive than what is sold in the US over the internet. How can you explain this? giving the fact it goes through the same process that Apple and mac goes through?
The answer is simply and with one simple sentence…
Apple resellers in Kuwait are ripping us off 🙂

>Btw

>8GB nano
>in Kuwait costs KD95
>in UK costs KD85
>in USA costs KD72

Thanks for bringing this example, which proves me right and you’re wrong 😛

Aziz dude your reply is too long and it doesnt matter if you think you are right or wrong. What i said isn’t my personal opinion nor am i trying to sell you an iPod. I don’t own a fucking apple store.

What I wrote is just facts. Jen for example replied back smartly. They could sell iPods in Kuwait for cheaper then the US if Apple wanted to. But they see the area as a wealthy region and so the prices are expensive.

Why HP and Panasonic and i dont know what other brands are not more expensive then the US? Because they are OTHER brands and not Apple. I just wrote about why Apple is more expensive. Jeez dude.

I read your reply Aziz.. and in all honesty and it was a waste of my time. Open google, search for ‘supply and demand’ .. and then take some time off to apply that concept to this post.

Apple/Kuwaiti Resellers are charging what they can. You have two choices:
1. Buy from them.
2. Buy from somewhere else (like me).

KtheKuwaiti… I know how supply and demand work. But I’m not talking about time of crises or some hard to find products. I am not talking about why the ipod is expensive. i’m talking about the resellers in Kuwait them selves. About how business take place.
Dude, honestly, I’m 24 years old, but 20 years of my life is spent over business like this. most of the electrical stuff and food in your house is probably from the family’s company, this is what we do.
but whatever… you’re probably all smarter than me and know better *leave*

Aziz I have to say that you dont understand how US companies operate. For example I know every in and out of how Alienware.com operates. How they sell their products and how they price their products.

The one main thing is that its cheaper to buy an alienware from the US because its priced cheaper, and they have a matter of US Electronics Regulations, it doesnt matter where the hell its manufactured. If its design came out of the US there are law stating certain ways of exporting the product, that is why it comes to the UK or France first then exported to other countries from there. From there you have other pricing ideas. And apple prices based on other regions, same as alienware the same laptop from alienware from alienware.co.uk, and alienware.com is alot more expensive from the UK website for a reason.

Mark and Aziz.

I don’t know why you say ZMacShop’s iPods are grey market. I’m not even sure what that means. Aziz also says Zmac’s products are ‘off the shelf’.

In both cases, that’s not true.

ZMacshop’s products are bought from certified Apple resellers in the US, shipped to Kuwait direct (as Mark later inferred). Those resellers are the same resellers you folks buy stuff from on Amazon (if you choose to buy from any other provider on Amazon). They’re covered by warranty – a warranty that Zmac honours. People who have ACTUALLY bought stuff from Zmac know this. There is nothing ‘grey’ about Zmac’s goods. They’re just not from Apple UAE, simply because its cheaper to get them from the US direct. What does that mean? To the end consumer, nothing at all. The only difference is Zmac has to bear the grunt if someone comes in with a busted iPod because instead of shipping it back to the UAE at Apple’s expense, Zmac has to ship it back to the US (at it’s own expense). ZMac CAN stock from UAE if it chooses (certified, remember), but it doesn’t.

If there are any items stocked that have US labels on them, they are either usually one-offs – as in only one item is available, and the salesman tells you that Zmac does not stock this item – or bought from – surprise surprise – other Mac shops in Kuwait. The only time Zmac buys from other local stores is to maintain stock levels, and as much as possible they try to maintain the same prices they’d usually have even if it means taking a loss. Also, I’d like Aziz to point out what those items are.

For your ‘info’: UK prices are higher not because of market mechanics, but because of VAT or value added tax. If you reclaim VAT, it works out the same price as retail US (or there abouts). ALL products from the UK will be more expensive than the US because of VAT (unless the item is VAT exempt, or is originally cheaper in the UK even before VAT).

In any case, this thread really shows just how much damage rumours and half-truths and pure errors can cause.

LOOL it dosent matter just stop all this..
Ipods are cheaper now then when they just came out.
I hav the old ipod the one with the four buttons at the top and its all by touch (they dont sell them anymore), 15GB and it cost me 400 pounds (UK) thats around KD 200. Prices now are alot better than that.

Nothingologist since zmacshop is not an official reseller its considered grey market. From dictionary.com:

Grey Market

1. A market where a product is bought and sold outside of the manufacturer’s authorized trading channels.

For example, if a store owner is an unauthorized dealer of a certain high-end electronics brand, the product is considered to be sold in the grey market. If the product is illegal, it would be selling on the “black market”.

I enjoyed reading this discussion about prices. We’ve had many similar discussions at emiratesmac.com about Apple prices and that people in the UAE feel ripped off by the regional IMC. I think the jury is still out on where the blame lies, or at least where the explanation is, but I’m glad it’s being discussed.

About grey imports, we published an interview with IMC about that very issue (https://www.emiratesmac.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1077)

BTW, go check out http://www.middleeastmac.com and submit sites you think should be included.

Mark;

Thanks for that.

I just spoke with ZMac’s owner and yes, you’re right so I apologise for arguing earlier. As of a few months ago, ZMac’s Apple authorization has been revoked – I can explain why that happened over email or in person, but not here. It is not because of any shortcoming on Zmac’s part, I can assure you of that 🙂

That said – and as far as I know – Zmac gives 1 year warranty, while other Mac dealers in Kuwait give 3 months. Again, I haven’t really asked the other dealers on their warranties, so I can’t be certain.

Malaysia store is the cheapest after US.
And if you are there, you’ll get free mac stuff if you simply ask. no need to argue!

Hi Guys

zMac is considered as a grey marketer for Apple Products in Kuwait although it offers the one year warranty. Find a list of authorized reselers and retailers at apple Middle East web site. Check it out at:

http://www.appleme.ae

Thanks.

Red Nano at M & M…. that is a grey product. as ONLY APPLE can sell these RED nanos.. i wonder if Dubai knows about M & M selling these… so hmm M & M are not a str8 forward company. plus they do sell apple products that dont come from Dubai. also remember that ZmacShop was 100% responsible for brining down Apple Prices in kuwait. but like they say no one is ever satisfied.

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