Makenzie Barton
Economics A3
Mrs. Straub
08 December 2014
Apple Excels during the Holiday Season
While December quickly approached us, the most common thought of course is celebrating one of the most cheerful, blissful holidays of all time; Christmas. Families and friends gather around as they all make Christmas cookies, watch the snowfall, and spend a large quantity of money on gifts for their loved ones. With Christmas shoppers being on the move traveling from store to store, it is safe to say that all businesses, ranging from American Eagle to Pick N Save, in some way excel during this time of the year. However, just how much impact does this world wide holiday have on the economy alone? It is configured that Christmas is typically the largest economic stimulus for many nations around the world as sales increase dramatically in almost all retail stores, according to The Statistics Portal. Looking back to the 2013 Christmas season, United States retail stores generated over three trillion U.S. dollars during the holiday season, which is depicted below.
Looking past the obvious realization that the holiday season generates an extremely high revenue across the nation, demand for specific products skyrockets due to the customers wants and needs. If we look at the traditional company of Apple, it is known that companies with technology based products are going to excel in purchases. Looking at the 2012 Christmas season, with the launch of the iPhone 5s a few months back from this time, Apple sold nearly fifty million iPhones in the December quarter alone due to the holiday purchases (Blodget). This number easily surpassed the income of the tablet, kindle, or any other technology based product, Apple or not. With the excessive, increased demand for one product, it becomes clear that the supply must be outrageous, in order for Christmas shoppers to be satisfied knowing they received the product they earned for. Although this was back two years ago in 2012, this tradition continues, specifically with Apple. While it is older news that the iPhone 6 has been put onto the market, Apple is expecting to sell nearly sixty million iPhones this December alone for the holidays. Not only will price continue to increase with consumers still purchasing the product due to the high demand, prices can continue to increase as well due to the lack of competition between Apple and any other technology based company such as Samsung (James) which is displayed below. As price continues to increase, demand continues to increase as well while other companies cannot keep up with the extensive updates Apple performs, resulting in a huge economic boost due to the large amounts of money being spent. 
Looking beyond just Apple, retail stores experience thousands of sales per day during the holiday seasons. With that being said, seasonal employment continues to be a factor in the world of retail. Due to the profits made by stores on a daily basis during the month of December, in the 2013 year, just over 768 thousand employees were throughout the United States to compensate for the holiday rush, according to Statistics Portal. As the employment rate continues to increase during this time when individuals need jobs the most, the economy excels in the aspect that unemployment rates for the time being have decreased significantly, almost to a single digit percentage. With employment rising, although for only the holiday season, the economy is continuing to grow as a whole which lowers the chances of a recession in the near future.
The holiday season brings much joy and excitement to the table, while nearly raising the economy drastically. With demand for products being at an all time high, supply also needs to counteract with that need, which most retail stores perform during the holiday season. As seasonal employment continues to rise as well, the economy during the months of early December to the beginning of January are at an ultimate peak, in which benefits and helps the economy grow and stabilize for the next few months following this time.
Works Cited:
"Annual Retail Industry Sales in the United States 2000-2014 | Statistic." Statista. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://www.statista.com/statistics/243448/holiday-retail-industry-sales-in-the-united-states/>.
"Apple IPhone vs. Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Sales [Chart]." IClarified. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://www.iclarified.com/28315/apple-iphone-vs-samsung-galaxy-smartphone-sales-chart>.
Blodget, Henry. "And Now It's Time To Fret About The Number Of IPhones Apple Sold..." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 22 Sept. 2012. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-iphone-sold-2012-9>.
"Topic: U.S. Christmas Season." Www.statista.com. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://www.statista.com/topics/991/us-christmas-season/>.
"IPhone 6 Expected To Help Apple Sell 60M IPhones In December Quarter, Analysts Say." International Business Times. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://www.ibtimes.com/iphone-6-expected-help-apple-sell-60m-iphones-december-quarter-analysts-say-1689686>.
This is a good topic. I think that within the next few weeks apple will make more money then they ever have mainly because of their new phone the Iphone 6 and 6 plus. Usually around the holidays people are buying the new and the most popular products and with it's recent release I think the iphone 6 and iphone 6 plus will among the top five hottest products sold. There is no doubt about it, Apple is making tons of money during the holiday season, but I think that this will be their best year yet because of their new products.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how consumerism has affected the traditional holiday of Christmas. There was a time when Christmas was about making gifts and celebrating with family, but it seems that it has gotten progressively more economics based, which is supported by your first graph. We all know Apple is a technology giant, but I would be interested to see how it really compares to Samsung in the terms of dollar amounts, as Samsung sells a wider variety of goods. Overall, it is an interesting topic to see how consumer expectations can affect the economy in such a drastic manner.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to see how many more iPhones were sold compared to samsung phones. I had imagined that the numbers of sales would be very similar and I was wrong. I would also have to disagree with the statement about there being a lower likely hood of a recession because yes during the holiday season more people tend to get jobs but most of the time it is a part time job that won't be available when the holiday season is over. So post holiday season the unemployment rate will increase back up to or around where it was before the holiday season.
ReplyDeletePart of the reason that Apple has so much more success over everyone else is how they promote their products. First, they have generally stayed a step ahead of other companies, which gives reason to buy theirs, not someone else's. Second, Apple has a revealing every year of the new and upcoming products, showcasing many features ranging from specs of casing or camera to built in shortcuts to make life easier. To me, it is very clear why Apple rolls in the big bucks.
ReplyDeleteThis is always a good topic when it comes to the christmas time. I had no idea that apple does so much better than samsung. I have always preferred apple, but I never knew that so many others felt the same. I didn't realize that samsung sells more goods either. So what is it about apple that makes it more popular than samsung? Is it just the label? I guess we will see if things change over this holiday season.
ReplyDeleteMakenzie, I think you provide an interesting evidence that shows the increasing consumerism in the US. Especially with the holidays spiking American spending, I think you provide an interesting perspective on the economic topic. American’s spend so much, but are heavily influenced by society and the media to justify their spending, but what are the consequences of this?
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting way you could view this is the massive increase in sales Unemployment after the holiday season ends.
ReplyDeleteIt still baffles me just how much people are willing to pay for a phone. You can get a smartphone for around $100, yet Apple is able to sell theirs for around $400 ish dollars. Logical to spend $300 more to have a thumbprint scanner and iTunes? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteJust because of the timing of the release of the new iPhones I think that will help the company get more money right now, but adding christmas to it will defiantly help too. maybe the release dates were at the time they were because of the approaching holiday season.
ReplyDeleteMakenzie,
ReplyDeleteI think that iphones are always a very popular Christmas gift. I agree that apple doesn't really have much competition. I love my iphone, and could never imagine having a different phone. I think that apple does advertise a lot and has really earned there spot as the most popular phone. I could not even tell you what an andriod or galaxy phone looks like, but everyone knows the iphone. The iphone hasn't changed that dramatically since its beginning, most of the changes are size, camera, siri, and the fingerprint id, but other than that the apps and look of it have stayed generally the same, but every time a new phone is released it continues to sell. People don't like change, and apple has mastered the art of changing the iphone just enough to make people desire the new one, but not too much, so that people still have the same phone the love.
It makes sense for the company to release their products at a certain time of year. Consumers are more likely to buy the products during the holiday season. Using this timing can definitely increase sales for the company.
ReplyDeleteIt is not a surprise that during the christmas season most stores rise in sales. Lots of people want to get gifts for their families so they have to spend money. The economy should rise due to this spending for gifts. So I’m not a surprised that the store sales increase during the christmas season.
ReplyDeleteIt is not a surprise that during the christmas season most stores rise in sales. Lots of people want to get gifts for their families so they have to spend money. The economy should rise due to this spending for gifts. So I’m not a surprised that the store sales increase during the christmas season.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see that New Year's causes an increase in buying stuff just the same as Christmas, such a simple notion as having to remember to write a 5 instead of a 4 on everything, year that change causes people to go out and spend their hard earned money. Christmas it's normal due to social conforms, but New Year's is not near as built up to as Christmas, and people increase spending just to fit in with the crowd.
ReplyDeleteI think this topic is really based on a lot of different things.However do you really think within the next few year apple will really still be around? I don't I think the manufacturing of it will be horrible in a few years. The screens already break so easy and the pixies stop working too. They do make a lot of money but what about all of the angry customers?
ReplyDelete