How to sell next-gen consoles, Marketing, Positioning, and Pricing [2020]

DSoup said:
Sony's process is straight forward, they release stock to retailers when they are certain stock will reach retailers. Consoles travelling by surface, particularly cargo ships, takes weeks or months to get to their destination and many things can impact those schedules on a daily basis.
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It seems more like they are futzing around to create demand and pump up the grey market.
 
AlphaWolf said:
It seems more like they are futzing around to create demand and pump up the grey market.
Click to expand...

Your theory makes no sense, Sony don't need to "create demand" it's pretty immense without very little communication already. Nor can I see any scenario where it's in Sony's interest to "pump up the grey market". The more people who spend more on PS5 that isn't going to Sony, the less there is to spend on games and accessories.
 
DSoup said:
Your theory makes no sense, Sony don't need to "create demand" it's pretty immense without very little communication already. Nor can I see any scenario where it's in Sony's interest to "pump up the grey market". The more people who spend more on PS5 that isn't going to Sony, the less there is to spend on games and accessories.
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Fortunately for Sony buying habits don't work like that. Get the box into homes and people will feed it.
However if people think they can just grab one any time they might be inclined to wait. So a few trickles of supply feeds the idea that they are hard to get and keeps them in the news.
The grey market doesn't hurt Sony and makes their $500 retail seem a bargain. It's win win for them unless the grey market really gets carried away.
 
So it seems Amazon is possibly going to disappoint both Sony PS5 and Microsoft Series X preorder consumers? The conspiracy theorists will say this is a bit too convenient for someone launching a competing game service.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...alpers-are-selling-consoles-with-huge-markups

Let's start with Amazon, which has sent an email out to some who have pre-ordered a PS5 to warn that the retail behemoth may not be able to get them a PS5 for launch.​


https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...ot-deliver-xbox-series-x-pre-orders-at-launch

Hot on the heels of last week's PlayStation 5 pre-order chaos comes a warning from Amazon that it may not deliver the Xbox Series X in time for launch.

With Xbox Series X pretty much sold-out across the internet (the S is still widely available), retail behemoth Amazon has issued to those who have pre-ordered an Xbox Series X the same sort of email it sent out to PS5 pre-order customers, warning it may not get Microsoft's console out to them in time for launch "due to high demand".

According to Amazon's email, the company is working with Microsoft to secure more stock. It may be the case that Amazon is simply covering itself in the event of logistical issues this November and behind closed doors it does not anticipate a delivery delay, but a cursory glance online shows plenty of people are spooked.​
 
AlphaWolf said:
Fortunately for Sony buying habits don't work like that. Get the box into homes and people will feed it. However if people think they can just grab one any time they might be inclined to wait. So a few trickles of supply feeds the idea that they are hard to get and keeps them in the news. The grey market doesn't hurt Sony and makes their $500 retail seem a bargain. It's win win for them unless the grey market really gets carried away.
Click to expand...
Like every other Sony console since PS2, pre-orders are gone. Sony don't need to create some fake demand. And scalpers absolutely do hurt Sony, as I explained previously if people pay more for PS5 though scalpers that is less money available for to Sony to sell games and accessories to people Most people do not have infinite money but many will be desperate enough to secure a PS5 at lunch they that'll pay over the odds to get one, and will sacrifice the other purchases they otherwise would have made. That's a chunk of change going to scalpers and not Sony.
 
I'm not sure i believe the GameStop story. I was specifically told by EB Games that if they catch you have any other pre-order in the system, both would be cancelled.
ie - if i bought a PS5 online, and then walked in store. They would cancel both. So it was warning to me when I bought in person. You'd need different addresses etc.
 
iroboto said:
I'm not sure i believe the GameStop story. I was specifically told by EB Games that if they catch you have any other pre-order in the system, both would be cancelled.
ie - if i bought a PS5 online, and then walked in store. They would cancel both. So it was warning to me when I bought in person. You'd need different addresses etc.
Click to expand...
Except these are allocations going to the store and the the Store managers and assistant managers are bypassing the system by adding bogus names etc. EB Games seems to have a more rigorous policy it would seem.
 
DSoup said:
Like every other Sony console since PS2, pre-orders are gone. Sony don't need to create some fake demand. And scalpers absolutely do hurt Sony, as I explained previously if people pay more for PS5 though scalpers that is less money available for to Sony to sell games and accessories to people Most people do not have infinite money but many will be desperate enough to secure a PS5 at lunch they that'll pay over the odds to get one, and will sacrifice the other purchases they otherwise would have made. That's a chunk of change going to scalpers and not Sony.
Click to expand...

People who are willing to pay a premium to buy a product immediately may make sacrifices to make that happen, but those sacrifices are going to be unrelated to that product.

It'll be interesting to see the grey market dynamic with the different models. How close to the FAT will the DE get in price.
 
AlphaWolf said:
How close to the FAT will the DE get in price.
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Guess that the 399 version in the long run will sell the most? It's that pricepoint that worked out so well last time, and many more that impuslebuy at that pricepoint. In the beginning its only hardcore users, so now the 499 version will probably sell the most.
Right now though it seems people buy everything till the stocks are empty, be it a 1500 dollar 3090 GPU, a 500 dollar games console or a 399/299 one.
Producers cant even keep up with those products. Probably going to be the same for the next iphone.
 
PSman1700 said:
Guess that the 399 version in the long run will sell the most? It's that pricepoint that worked out so well last time, and many more that impuslebuy at that pricepoint. In the beginning its only hardcore users, so now the 499 version will probably sell the most.
Right now though it seems people buy everything till the stocks are empty, be it a 1500 dollar 3090 GPU, a 500 dollar games console or a 399/299 one.
Producers cant even keep up with those products. Probably going to be the same for the next iphone.
Click to expand...

In the launch window the cheaper version will only sell the most if they produce more of them. Higher demand for the DE is driven by price advantage, the grey market could remove that advantage.
 
AlphaWolf said:
People who are willing to pay a premium to buy a product immediately may make sacrifices to make that happen, but those sacrifices are going to be unrelated to that product.
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Sure, maybe they'll just not eat for a month. That makes sense.
 
DSoup said:
What are you, a monster? Food and drink are not permitted in libraries. :nope:
Click to expand...

That's what I used to think. Until I walked into a public library and they had a stand selling coffee...in the library... And not away far from the books and tables in another room but right in with the books and the tables.

I was horrified. I'm still mentally scarred from the experience.

Regards,
SB
 
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