How to Sell to Apple & Become a Apple Supplier

Learn everything you need to know to become a Apple Store supplier

Today I want to talk about a question that comes up all of the time in my workshops and classes. People always say 

“How do I get my products into Apple Stores and become one of their Apple Store Suppliers? I love Apple. I have a consumer electronic product and I’d love to sell my product to them. Do you have any tips or strategies or things to consider in regards to working with Apple?”

Everyone loves Apple and everybody wants to sell to Apple

However, the first problem that you’re going to have is, all of your competitors have this dream and all of them are rushing over to Apple to try to get them to sell products on their behalf. The problem with that is if you’re getting started and you are new working with Apple, everybody else is doing that. That really makes it hard for you to get your products in there. They have limited shelf space, and when everybody is kind of doing the same thing, it makes it a little hard for someone with a new product to try to become an Apple Supplier.

There is some finessing that you have to do when you sell to Apple stores

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t go for it because you should absolutely go after any retailer you consider that makes sense for you and your business.

Once you are selling to other realtors you will be more likely to be able to become a Apple store supplier

However, if you reach out to Apple and they turn you down, don’t feel bad. All you have to do is go after all the other retailers who sell consumer electronics products, get your products in there, build up your business a little bit then come back to Apple to show them proof that your products could sell, that your product is going to make the money. That is something to consider.

It’s a little tricky to become a Apple store vendor

Go for Apple first, but if they reject you, don’t feel bad at all because it just means that all of your competitors are reaching out to them as well. It’s going to have to be pretty magical for your product to get in there, and it’s either going to be interesting, innovative or new and no one else is selling it or it’s that you’ve been selling it somewhere and you’re actually really in a retraction with it, and it’s making a lot of money. It’s kind of a no brainer for Apple to add it to their store because of the fact that it is a quick and easy sell. If you are just getting started, that is one fact to consider. Go for it, but consider that as an issue.

Things that you need to know before reaching out to sell to Apple stores

Another thing to take into consideration is that Apple sells people’s branded products in their stores. Products with somebody else’s brand name. If you got a name for your company, you put it into your packaging. That’s a branded product. Apple sells products from other people’s brands in their stores but they also have Apple owned products that they sell in their stores as well.

What you can sell to Apple Stores

The reason I mentioned that is because that’s called private label. They create their own products but they also bring in products under their brand name and that’s sometimes called “Company Owned” products, or private label brands. There’s different names for this, but essentially it means you could conceivably reach out to Apple and seeing whether or not they would be open to buying your product under their own brand name.

Sell to Apple With a Private Label Product

When that happens for you, you will not have your name, your brand and your recognition at Apple store, but they will hopefully and potentially buy your product under their company brand name. You use their packaging with your product, and if that’s the case, they can buy lots of volume, lots of products and so forth. For those of you willing to explore the possibility of doing it, kind of white label under their brand name. That can be another potential opportunity for you, and there is a buyer who is responsible for that at Apple.

Some people are really strong about their brand. No one’s going to touch it, and they are really just going to build that out.

Some of you are just like “I don’t care, I just want to make money”

Another thing to think about if you want to sell to Apple

It might be something to consider whether or not Apple would be open the possibility of private labeling your products. Essentially, it really just means that you’re selling your product to them and they are making sure that their packaging is on the box and you don’t really get credit for it but somehow, you do because you are making money. That’s something to consider with Apple.