Apple Watch Retail Sales by Appointment Only

Apple Watch Sport at Apple Store1 Credit: Pisaphotography / Shutterstock
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For those of you who are dying to get a hold of an Apple watch when it launches, you better reserve yourself a spot. When the wearable becomes available on April 24, walk-in customers looking to purchase a watch will be forced to order one online. Customers looking to walk out of their local Apple Store wearing one of the new Apple Watches must make an online “Product Reservation” to place a specific model on hold at the store.

Leaked training documents online describe how Apple employees are to handle walk-ins looking to purchase the watch. Employees are to offer the customer an opportunity to try the watch on, and then assist them in placing an online order through the Apple Store.

Pre-orders of the watch begin on April 10, the same day that demo models will be available to try on in the store. Trying the watch on is, of course, also by appointment only. Potential buyers will have five to fifteen minutes made available to try on one of the Apple Watches. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, customers won’t be able to swap out the various bands available for the watch. The only exception is for those interested in purchasing the more expensive Apple Watch Edition, which starts at $10,000. Those trying on the higher-end models of the watch will have more than an hour to preview the watch, including over a half hour to actually try the watch on.

The appointment and reservation systems are designed to manage the initial high demand for the wearable, as well as the expected low in-store inventory. Apple is expected to allow purchases for walk-in customers once the initial demand subsides.

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