My wife saw something about the Wii Fit, and mentioned it to me in passing. Perhaps it was in a Toys R Us flyer - something that is a major DTM highlight in our house each Friday.
Thinking this might be a hint, I charged off on Friday night to the Best Buy at Laird Road to collect one. Hunted around for a bit, and then asked one of the central casting salespeople where they were.
“The Wii? They’re sold out. Maybe tomorrow,” he replied.
Why, I asked.
“They’re popular. People like them. They sell out.”
I don’t think he got the depth of my question. Like, WHY?
As in. It is July and why is Nintendo still unable to make enough of these things? Last December, I understand (see prior post “Wii auction update” December 21-07). Christmas is a huge buying window and there is probably some buzz benefit from short stocking items.
But July?
And to think I had one on my desk last December and sold it off for charity. Who’d have thought that Nintendo still couldn’t fill a few trucks come seven months later.
Can it be a marketing strategy? Will you sell more Wii’s if people believe they are popular ’cause they’re always sold out? I do note that there are 721 new machines for sale on eBay right now. Many at prices not dramatically higher than Best Buy claims to be the retail price…should tomorrow ever come.
But as marketing strategies go, I can’t quite see how it sells more machines. Nintendo’s brand gets a bump, and I can see how that might spill over onto their other products. Not that I can name any other Nintendo products unaided.
What Nintendo needs is a lesson in supply chain management from the Big 3 automakers. Not great on innovation, mind you, but the cars get to the showrooms - whether people want them or not.
MRM
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