The WII shortage fiasco

[CharlieMopps]

SO Nintendo decided they don't want my money. 

There's been a WII shortage since LAST Christmas... and there still is one. I was thinking of getting one for my wife so her and her friends could play with it when they are drinking... seem'd like a good idea. But there are no WII's... anywhere. A friend of mine somehow got ahold of Bestbuys flier for Sunday before it was printed. They were going to have 21 units when they opened at 8am. I drove by at 6am (on my way to work) and there were already over 50 people outside the doors waiting. Wow...

The $250 WII is selling for $400 + $38 shipping on Ebay... Wow

Nintendo really screwed the pooch on this one.

[Bokonon]

I wouldn't go that far. They were definitely overly conservative at first, but they've already released enough product to pass the 360's install base (worldwide) in about half the time... They are going to lose a bunch of sales this holiday though, due to their lack of units.

Or yeah, they are incompetent bastards that hate you. That could work.

[sigil]

Shopping for a wii without using iTrackr.com or something similar is just asking to be frustrated.

[CharlieMopps]

Or yeah, they are incompetent bastards that hate you. That could work.

Thank you, that's exactly what I was thinking.

[NiX]

Christmas always leads to a shortage of something. Just depends what's on the "hot" list. You should of been smart and bought one a month or two ago. I could of walked into any Best Buy in Ontario and bought one about a month ago. Doing this 9 days before Christmas is just.. stupid.

[Miasma]

Nintendo really screwed the pooch on this one.

Yeah, I'm sure they're crying their eyes out as they haul bag after bag of money to the bank.  Most companies could only dream of a product so popular that they can't build them fast enough.  You and millions of other people will still buy one months from now when there are more in stock anyways.

Nintendo was probably a little gunshy with production lines considering both how badly the gamecube did and the fact that the Wii was a massive gamble.  They bet everything on a cheaper, simpler machine with lesser graphics/capabilities, and they actually won.

[CharlieMopps]

Nintendo really screwed the pooch on this one.

Yeah, I'm sure they're crying their eyes out as they haul bag after bag of money to the bank.  Most companies could only dream of a product so popular that they can't build them fast enough.  You and millions of other people will still buy one months from now when there are more in stock anyways.

Nintendo was probably a little gunshy with production lines considering both how badly the gamecube did and the fact that the Wii was a massive gamble.  They bet everything on a cheaper, simpler machine with lesser graphics/capabilities, and they actually won.

Nintendo did not have to have a shortage though. Their management said that in order to improve production they would need to build another plant. An investment they did not want to make. In my case, not getting my wife one for Christmas means we aren't getting one ever. I'll take her on vacation instead or something. Point being, having a shortage is one thing... having a shortage during Christmas is just plain dumb.

Christmas always leads to a shortage of something. Just depends what's on the "hot" list. You should of been smart and bought one a month or two ago. I could of walked into any Best Buy in Ontario and bought one about a month ago. Doing this 9 days before Christmas is just.. stupid.

I've been looking for at least a month and a half.

[Velorath]

In my case, not getting my wife one for Christmas means we aren't getting one ever.

 

[Rendakor]

All summer, up to October or so, they've been on shelves everywhere around here. Should've expected to get burnt, waiting til Nov to get one.

[NiX]

I've been looking for at least a month and a half.

Either you live in the middle of nowhere or you should be blaming your local retailer for not allocating your stores enough. I live in a small(ish) town in Ontario and I know my Best Buy gets at least 30-40 every, or every other, Monday. Pre-christmas of course.

[Jain Zar]

I'm torn on this one.

On one hand if you know your machine that makes more money when software is sold is a megahit and won't stay on shelves you should increase production as much as possible.

On the other, what happens if raving Sony fanboys take over and then you have all this unsold stock? 
(Of course with this kind of popularity I doubr they have much to worry about.)

But for the record, the only time I have ever seen a Wii for sale was release day when I froze my ass off outside a Best Buy from 9pm-9am.
And PS3s have been on shelves pretty much since the week after Christmas. 

[Xanthippe]

Nintendo did not have to have a shortage though. Their management said that in order to improve production they would need to build another plant. An investment they did not want to make. In my case, not getting my wife one for Christmas means we aren't getting one ever. I'll take her on vacation instead or something. Point being, having a shortage is one thing... having a shortage during Christmas is just plain dumb.

Do you have any kids?  The reason I ask is that every Christmas for the past decade (since I've been paying attention), there's a shortage of whatever the hotseller for the kids is.

There also seems to be always be a Nintendo shortage around the holidays if Nintendo is particularly successful that year - and my experience with this goes back 20+ years. 

I have read that Nintendo launched the Wii with the capability to make 1 million per month, and have ramped it up to being able to make 1.8 million per month.  The Wii's been out for a year, and selling out for a year.  Ramping up production is not a trivial matter - it costs a lot of money, and Nintendo has to gamble that that demand will stay high in order to pay off those costs.

I'm sure Nintendo would love to be able to sell more Wiis but it's hard to gauge demand when it continues to climb, particularly after all the naysaying that surrounded the Wii at launch.

[Cheddar]

In the Hampton Roads it has been sold out the entire year- friends at work had issues finding them 6 months ago. 




edit.  Also note- this is not from lack of inventory.  My buddy called a bunch of stores back in June looking for one; they received 20 every 3 days and it was first come first serve.  Took him about 10 days.

[Strazos]

Where I live in NJ, unless we were FORCED to hold Wii systems for a sale (ie - Black Friday), only once have we had a system stay in the store overnight.

Once. Since the system launched, we've had a single system not sell in the same day it was received (discounting particular sales, of course). And, we've been getting more systems in over the last 6 months or so; they just sell out almost instantly.




ALso, this CharlieMopps fellow is a fucking moron. L2Shop, newb.

[jlwilli5]

    Some retailers are finally limiting the number of Wii's you can buy. Somethng about 25-40+ units coming in a week and not one resident getting one, including the wait list. Meanwhile units galore are available on Ebay for $550 or more...lol. That new corvette in the parking lot belongs to Bob in electronics, on his $5/$8 an hour salary...LoL.
    No worries after Winter Solstice there will be Wii's a-plenty back in stock.

[Strazos]

Yeah, that's what I said last year...

I was wrong.

[Jain Zar]

Yeah, that's what I said last year...

I was wrong.

Nobody expected the system to do this well. 
I am not sure ANY videogame system has done this well.
Even when PS2s were hot, I got one a couple months after release.  Walked in on a day I had just got my Income Tax return, and there was the PS2 and SW Starfighter begging me to buy it.
360s were buyable around the same timeframe.

Its just INSANE how well the Wii is doing.

[Phildo]

Yeah, they're doing it on purpose to keep the buzz going.  Convinces the consumer that it's still the hotness if they walk in to buy one and can't find it.  Plus, they saved themselves a BUNDLE of cash by not building a new production facility.  And as a result, they'll have a steady revenue stream for a long time to come instead of drying up once everyone has their system.  Smart business on their part, even if it irritates a few of you.

[Azazel]

ALso, this CharlieMopps fellow is a fucking moron. L2Shop, newb.

That's a bit harsh. Unless the two of you are good mates and you're just having a rib.

[Riggswolfe]

I've been looking for at least a month and a half.

Either you live in the middle of nowhere or you should be blaming your local retailer for not allocating your stores enough. I live in a small(ish) town in Ontario and I know my Best Buy gets at least 30-40 every, or every other, Monday. Pre-christmas of course.

I've only ever heard of them being available in small towns that are two hours or so out of the way. Here (Oklahoma City) I've heard the same story from retailers all year long. "Yeah, we got in 30 this morning but they were gone in 20 minutes." All year.

[HaemishM]

Around here is the same story. Get 20 in, they are either already spoken for when they reach the store, or gone shortly thereafter. They don't collect dust.

Now, it may be an intenional shortage on Nintendo's part (douchey but smart) or a lack of foresight (not smart but less douchey), but the upside is Nintendo knows that every unit they produce is going to make them money. It's a win for everyone involved except the people who can't get one.

Perhaps if this continues, many of these asshead game developers who look down their noses at the Wii will realize they can actually make money by making GOOD games on the system instead of circle-jerk-half-assed ports and wasted waggle.

[Soukyan]

Perhaps if this continues, many of these asshead game developers who look down their noses at the Wii will realize they can actually make money by making GOOD games on the system instead of circle-jerk-half-assed ports and wasted waggle.

That is spot on.

[tazelbain]

Having some clue about modern electronics manufacturing, I bet they have their pipe-line fully open right now.  Expanding the pipe-line can be expensive especially for non-commodity parts.  A company like Nintendo isn't going sacrifice profitability to install a fire hose, so we are stuck with the garden hose.

[naum]

Mrs. Naum broke the sensor cord on my Wii.

Wonder if I'll be able to replace this in a timely fashion (either on-line or physical retail merchant…)…

[Strazos]

You probably will...

Or, you can just play with candles on, in the same position as the lightbar's LEDs.

I've heard candles actually work better, but I have no actual experience with it.

ALso, this CharlieMopps fellow is a fucking moron. L2Shop, newb.

That's a bit harsh. Unless the two of you are good mates and you're just having a rib.

I'm only slightly sorry. You have no idea what caliber of crap I've had t deal with concerning this system since it has released...TONS of boo-hooing over a damn game console, especially from the people who just figured out in late Nov. that they must have one NOWNOWNOW.

I mean, FFS, we've had people camping outside the store on average weekdays now, asking if we have any systems in. This is after I personally tell every single person who asks about the system that we never have any to hold overnight, and that we don't know when we're getting them until UPS shows up, and that UPS shows up around 11am.

Ok, so that second part was a lie, but can you imagine the shitstorm of suck that would occur if eople knew that we could SOMETIMES see Wii shipments a day or two ahead of time? 

[Fabricated]

This is terrible business and it's going to cost Nintendo.

[Margalis]

Is that a joke?

This is one of those problems you hope to have. I'm pretty sure that this "terrible business" is a lot less terrible than selling at 360 or PS3 numbers.

[Ratman_tf]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=26100677&sid=6184030&om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;6

I guess Nintendo could intentionally be screwing themselves out of a billion in sales in order to alienate their customers.. but somehow I don't think so...
I think the more likely answer is that Nintendo is a much smaller company than either MS or Sony, and they just can't keep up with the crazy-insane demand.

[Tale]

I bought a Wii on a whim a few days after it launched in 2006, by asking at a store if they had any, when it was "sold out everywhere". For A$388 (US$334). Amazing that I could sell it now at a profit.

[Fabricated]

Is that a joke?

This is one of those problems you hope to have. I'm pretty sure that this "terrible business" is a lot less terrible than selling at 360 or PS3 numbers.

In what world is it good business to leave money on the table? If tons of people want to pay you whatever you want for your product and you can't supply them, you are losing out on money regardless of profits and that money goes to your competitors making substitute goods.

Business 101 people. Jesus.

[Mrbloodworth]

In the Hampton Roads it has been sold out the entire year- friends at work had issues finding them 6 months ago. 




edit.  Also note- this is not from lack of inventory.  My buddy called a bunch of stores back in June looking for one; they received 20 every 3 days and it was first come first serve.  Took him about 10 days.

Yep, most stores like game stop (in the Hampton roads area) get 2, and then they are first come first serve.


Also.  I still say this whole thing is intentional.

[Miasma]

Is that a joke?

This is one of those problems you hope to have. I'm pretty sure that this "terrible business" is a lot less terrible than selling at 360 or PS3 numbers.

In what world is it good business to leave money on the table? If tons of people want to pay you whatever you want for your product and you can't supply them, you are losing out on money regardless of profits and that money goes to your competitors making substitute goods.

Business 101 people. Jesus.

The problem with business 101 is that it's only 101.  Nintendo would have to double their production lines to actually meet the demand there is right now costing them an incredible amount of money.  Then another year from now they would have to idle half of the production lines they just built up because most of the demand would already have been met.  They are basically a monopoly right now so they aren't losing money to competitors, they are the only ones on the block with a system like this.  They will get their money when the same people who can't find one now buy it in June and they won't have to spend a billion dollars doubling their production capability to do it.

I'm sure that in hindsight they wished they had built more initial production but it wasn't worth the risk back then.  If the wii had flopped (which it could have easily done) and they had that much invested in manufacturing Nintendo itself could have gone bust, pulled a sega and announced they will now be making Mario titles for the xbox.

[schild]

If Nintendo doubled their production lines, they'd be doublefucked when the fad died. And they know it.

[Phildo]

To reiterate my earlier comment, Nintendo is also increasing demand for their product simply because of its scarcity.  It's "rare".  It also helps pull the wool over people's eyes as to how mediocre most of the system is.

[Mrbloodworth]

To reiterate my earlier comment, Nintendo is also increasing demand for their product simply because of its scarcity.  It's "rare".  It also helps pull the wool over people's eyes as to how mediocre most of the system is.

Also.  I still say this whole thing is intentional.