Wii don’t have any in stock

Since the US Nintendo Wii launch, last Sunday November 19th, it seems impossible to locate a Wii system at a retail location in the greater Phoenix area. While I have been buying some Wii games here and there in anticipation, the system itself has been elusive. Amazon.com flat out states they sold out in less that one minute and “will post availability updates”, though one week later no update has appeared. The local Target, Circuit City, Toys R Us and Best Buy employees questioned this past week have had the standard “Yes, we are out and NO, we don’t know when they will come back in,” answers. These responses started out pleasant enough early in the week, but as the days have passed the employees have been getting increasingly short with answers to questions. This puts employees in a position to fail. How about a retailer extranet with updates on when and where the Wii systems are? Let your retailers have the information they need to communicate effectively with your passionate customer base.

For a company that supposedly has 4 million units ready to go, Nintendo sure is holding back on delivering. The sales logic may be to create an increase in demand by manufacturing scarcity in the supply chain for the first week. This is not the correct strategy. Why not give your passionate customer what they want? Nintendo has an opportunity here to separate itself from Sony and the Playstation 3. It has been well-reported that Sony has not been able to produce nearly the number of units as Nintendo, so why not put lots of Wii systems on the shelves and give PS3 customers an alternative? These customers certainly have the money to spend and the Wii comes in at $250 retail to the Playstation’s hefty $600.

Nintendo has done so many things right with the Wii, it’s a shame delivery and communication is softening the launch. The Wii game play experience is more accessible to non-gamers through a simple, motion sensitive controller. The price point makes it much more accessible to the mass market. Nintendo’s focus on quality game design puts the icing on the cake. If only we could navigate what appears to be an artificial and antiquated retail strategy to obtain the system.