All purpose Sales and Sales Rumors and Anecdotes [2018 Edition]

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Amazon stock have been very inconsistent throughout the holidays too. Maybe their order volume causes more variability and less in sync with production batches restocking. We don't see this sort of things from bestbuy or gamestop.
 
Is there any benefit to running down stock towards the end of the financial year?

This matter, coupled with the recent PSVR price cut, suggests something along those lines is happening.
 
If that was the case, it'd be common practice and we'd see discounts and low stocks generally towards a company's EOFY.
 
Is there any benefit to running down stock towards the end of the financial year?

This matter, coupled with the recent PSVR price cut, suggests something along those lines is happening.
Given the size of operations for Amazon, they lose a significant amount of money if products sit in their warehouses. Just in time ordering is the most ideal scenario for them to keep profits high. So it's not about necessarily running down the stock it's just about always having the right amount of stock for the demand.

That being said, even if you're 'off' by a little bit, your loss isn't going to be that much. It's better to be slightly on the loss than to have way too much excess. As per the original argument of not having stock therefore means it would be ranked even higher, the ranking isn't going to jump 10 fold here because of it, it's not christmas season.
 
Edit: this bit's directed at Shifty Geezer.

True. But let's say you're in Sony's position, where you can rest on your laurels for a couple of months. Would there be any benefit then? In theory at least?

Edit: this bit, at iroboto.

And yeah, I don't think having stock would positively impact the PS4's sales by much. As you say, they'll be pretty much 1:1 sold:bought.

I'm mostly curious as to whether the shortage is an Amazon thing, a Sony thing, or maybe even a supply chain thing?
 
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True. But let's say you're in Sony's position, where you can rest on your laurels for a couple of months. Would there be any benefit then? In theory at least?

And yeah, I don't think having stock would positively impact the PS4's sales by much. As you say, they'll be pretty much 1:1 sold:bought.

I'm mostly curious as to whether the shortage is an Amazon thing, a Sony thing, or maybe even a supply chain thing?
It's an Amazon thing. If it was a Sony thing, shortages would be across all retailers.
 
That's quite disappointing. There's been something of a PS4Pro shortage recently - in the UK Amazon - and I was hoping they were clearing stock in readiness for a new revision.

Back to waiting for a price cut!
 
True. But let's say you're in Sony's position, where you can rest on your laurels for a couple of months. Would there be any benefit then? In theory at least?
Hypothetically, maybe you could move sales from this year to next by reducing stock and frustrating your consumers. Generally I can't see any point in wilfully losing sales and profits though.
 
Despite SOTC coming out this month, it's going to be relatively close between PS4 and XBO. A LOT closer than Jan. was from the look of things.

I wasn't expecting the XBO to be this close to the PS4 for Feb. Which makes me wonder what made PS4 sell so much better in Jan. (Monster Hunter?) or what is making the XBO more attractive in Feb. than it was in Jan.?

It's a slow month with no big SW. This is MS's strongest market and the XB1-S is $80-$100 cheaper the the PS4-S throughout the month.

Don't forget that BC and Game Pass are system sellers ;)
 
Which metric, the Amazon Top Sellers lists?
Yes the amazon top seller haven't been useful for quite a while. Maybe if we look at the entire year, there is always a few fluke months specially the slow ones. The multiple skus mess things up even more. Stock varies. Deals vary too. It never ended up as meaningful as NPD.
 
So, another slow day for me. I figured I'd go and take a look at the mid-Feb. monthly rankings on Amazon.

Hardware.
  • 14 - Switch Neon
  • 20 - Switch Gray
  • 41 - PS4-S
  • 44 - SNEW Classic
  • 48 - XBO-S
  • 70 - XBO-X
  • 75 - PS4-P
  • 93 - PS4-P - SW: BF2 bundle
Nintendo running away with hardware sales for the month so far. Despite SOTC coming out this month, it's going to be relatively close between PS4 and XBO. A LOT closer than Jan. was from the look of things.

I wasn't expecting the XBO to be this close to the PS4 for Feb. Which makes me wonder what made PS4 sell so much better in Jan. (Monster Hunter?) or what is making the XBO more attractive in Feb. than it was in Jan.?

Software. The only non-Nintendo physically packaged game in the top 20 is SOTC and it's behind 2 Nintendo games. However! That doesn't say much as PS4 has 4 gift cards in the top 20 and XBO now has 2 gift cards in the top 20. As consumer buying habits shift to digital, this is to be expected. IE - Switch software probably isn't outselling PS4/XBO software to the extent that it might appear at first glance when taking digital sales into account. For comparison, the first Nintendo gift card comes in at #43.

Regards,
SB

The best sellers list is not the best way to track overall sales. There may be 1 or 2 skus per console platform in the top 100 but Amazon literally carries a 100+ skus per platform. Plus the pricing is different across platforms.

Outside of the X, Pro and a couple of 1TB limited editions most of the top 20 selling Xbox and PS4 console skus on Amazon are within the price range of the cheapest sku.

For the Switch, you have a used sku and maybe a couple with $50-60 north of $299 but most of the skus are $400+. Thereby Switch pricing encourages purchases to just a handful of skus while Xbox and PS4 allows for broader choices. Given that $25-$50 extra for a packed in game or accessory is a lot easier to swallow than paying $100-$300 for a mishmash of games and accessories.

The same goes for games. PS4 and Xbox have much bigger libraries with tons more older titles that still garner sales.
 
The best sellers list is not the best way to track overall sales. There may be 1 or 2 skus per console platform in the top 100 but Amazon literally carries a 100+ skus per platform. Plus the pricing is different across platforms.

Outside of the X, Pro and a couple of 1TB limited editions most of the top 20 selling Xbox and PS4 console skus on Amazon are within the price range of the cheapest sku.

For the Switch, you have a used sku and maybe a couple with $50-60 north of $299 but most of the skus are $400+. Thereby Switch pricing encourages purchases to just a handful of skus while Xbox and PS4 allows for broader choices. Given that $25-$50 extra for a packed in game or accessory is a lot easier to swallow than paying $100-$300 for a mishmash of games and accessories.

The same goes for games. PS4 and Xbox have much bigger libraries with tons more older titles that still garner sales.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not seeing a whole host of SKUs outside of the top 20. At least not anything that could significantly skew things in favor of either PS4 or XBO versus NSW.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_...ords=ps4&ie=UTF8&qid=1518960564&rnid=11846801

For PS4, there's a bunch of discontinued models (SW: BF2 slim, Uncharted Slim [, 500 GB, COD, etc.) all of which together are likely to be a very small fraction of regular PS4 sales. Especially as all of them are either 3rd party only or have only single digital stock remaining. And since they are discontinued, it isn't as if they are going to be replenished.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_...xbox+one&ie=UTF8&qid=1518960897&rnid=11846801

For XBO, it's a bit more interesting. The Minecraft and Hot Wheels bundles appear to have sufficient stock and there's a couple refurbished SKUs. And then a whole bunch of discontinued SKUs with extremely limited stock that aren't going to be replenished.

Regards,
SB
 
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not seeing a whole host of SKUs outside of the top 20. At least not anything that could significantly skew things in favor of either PS4 or XBO versus NSW.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_1?fst=as:eek:ff,p90x:1&rh=n:468642,n:6427814011,n:6427871011,k:ps4&keywords=ps4&ie=UTF8&qid=1518960564&rnid=11846801

For PS4, there's a bunch of discontinued models (SW: BF2 slim, Uncharted Slim [, 500 GB, COD, etc.) all of which together are likely to be a very small fraction of regular PS4 sales. Especially as all of them are either 3rd party only or have only single digital stock remaining. And since they are discontinued, it isn't as if they are going to be replenished.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_1?fst=p90x:1,as:eek:ff&rh=n:468642,n:6469269011,n:6469295011,ko_Obox+one&keywords=xbox+one&ie=UTF8&qid=1518960897&rnid=11846801

For XBO, it's a bit more interesting. The Minecraft and Hot Wheels bundles appear to have sufficient stock and there's a couple refurbished SKUs. And then a whole bunch of discontinued SKUs with extremely limited stock that aren't going to be replenished.

Regards,
SB

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Video-Games-Xbox-One-Consoles/zgbs/videogames/6469295011

Discontinued just means these console are no longer sold directly by Amazon. However, a number of those skus are still popular items on Amazon. The first discontinued sku was replaced by the hot wheels sku (its mentioned on the item page) but currently this sku is outselling the hot wheels sku.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers...nsoles-Accessories/zgbs/videogames/6469269011

Top 100 Xbox one list

5 console skus are present and all between #22-#35.

More skus are participating in Xbox sales than the overall top 100 would indicate.

Without numbers you can't parse how much or how little these extra skus are influencing sales. But the Amazon overall best sellers list did little to highlight the PS4 leading sales in November or the PS4 coming in 3rd in December.
 
Ubisoft quarterly numbers. Q3 2017-18= Oct begin through end Dec. https://ubistatic19-a.akamaihd.net/comsite_common/en-US/images/50ubisoft fy18 q3 english final_tcm99-318968_tcm99-196733-32.pdf

I'm a few days late posting these.



XPzHO2i.png
 
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https://ubistatic19-a.akamaihd.net/comsite_common/en-US/images/41ubisoft q3fy18 1202_tcm99-318995_tcm99-196733-32.pdf

The slide presentation had a few tidbits.

In 2005, 13 pubs released AAA titles on an annual basis. In 2017 just 4 pubs do so.

Physical Sales. Distributors get 30% and Sony/MS/Nintendo take another 20% off the 70% collected by Ubisoft. In the end Ubisoft collects just 55% of that $60 dollar sale.

Digital Sales. Sony/MS just collects a distributor cut of 30% and Ubisoft gets to keep 70%.

$33 vs $42. By taking out the middleman. Ubisoft gets to collect 9 more dollars per unit while Sony and MS collects the other $9 from a digital sale.

Games as a service is really taking off for Ubisoft.

Everybody dragged Bethesda for Oblivion's $2 horse armor yet ACO is running around selling flaming horses for 15 bucks. Talk about inflation! LOL
 
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NPD "Media Release" is Wednesday this month I think (so, tomorrow). Their date format changed a lot, will be on Wednesdays going forward I think. Also coming later in the month all the first half this year, after the 20th each month IIRC.
 
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