Your seasonal anecdotes: Stories from the retail war grounds

[rounin]

I think one of the problems is that on occasion, some stores get surprise shipments of PS3s, and then none of the people looking for one know that the store(s) has them. For instance, today (Saturday), I was at BestBuy and they had 15 PS3's (all 60GB) there and while they were being moved (moved 10 in half an hour), there was no rush. I asked the salesperson if they were not moving quickly, and he said they usually get sold out of them on Fridays because people think they get shipments on Thursdays. As a result, I think its difficult to judge how well PS3s sell by these examples.

 

[Acert93]

I believe Best Buy advertised having 25 PS3s in every store on the 31st of December.

 

[thatdude90210]

Yep, it was advertised in the Sunday papers. Best buy has supposedly been hoarding for days leading up to the 31st for that Sunday ad. BB did these "relaunches" a few times for the 360 last year too.

 

[Acert93]

I was at Walmart tonight and chatting with the electronics guy. The same 2 PS3 units are there. If anyone is dieing to get one and cannot find one in their area PM me and I will get you the address :smile:

 

[Geeforcer]

Ok, here are the results of my expedition.

Location: Victor, NY; EastView Mall 1/11/2006
Stores Visited: GameStop, Target, FYI, EB Games.

Results:

EB

Wii in stock? Yes, one. Clerk, who I know pretty well, was as shocked as I was.
PS3s in stock? Yes, 9 units. Are they moving? No - two sales within last 7 days.

FYI

Wii in stock? No. But, they come in pretty regulary, and sell out within a day.
PS3s in stock? Yes, "plenty of 60GB and few of 20Gb". Would I have trouble picking one up in a few days? No, since they are "not really going anywhere at $599".

Gamestop

Wii in stock? No. Check next Monday. (Note: A family with a few kids came out and asked about Wii, so I didn't even have to. I then sent them to EB)
PS3 in stock? (Clerk points to a large stack of boxes). "Wow, you got that many?" "You know, they are selling really slowly. Over last two weeks, we got in about twice the number in that we sold"

Target

Wii in stock? No. Had large shipment come in few days before Xmas, sold out in the next two days, and nothing since. Don't know when more might come either.
PS3 is stock? Yes, we have several of both 20 and 60 gigs. How are they selling? "We got in more in RETURNS since Xmas then we SOLD since then".

I know NW NY != the rest of the county, but sheesh, things are looking brutal for Sony here. They need a price drop, like, tomorrow; 20GB = $300; 60GB = $400.

 

[one]

I know NW NY != the rest of the county, but sheesh, things are looking brutal for Sony here. They need a price drop, like, tomorrow; 20GB = $300; 60GB = $400.

Without a compelling software a pricecut won't be effective. Besides, for the market of the cheaper price range, they have PS2 and PSP to differentiate.

 

[inefficient]

See what I did there

Wii in stock? Yes, one. Clerk, who I know pretty well, was as shocked as I was. PS3s in stock? Yes, 9 units. Are they moving? No - two sales within last 7 days.

Breaking news! Wii sits on EB store shelves while PS3 sells through 22% of it's inventory in a single week!!! You heard it here first.

 

[Acert93]

Breaking news! Wii sits on EB store shelves while PS3 sells through 22% of it's inventory in a single week!!! You heard it here first.

I think you have missed the point of the anecdotes, they are not universal borameters. But when collecting a number of them and comparing/contrasting with sales data and corporate sales numbers we can get a slightly foggy idea of what is going on, which in turn can either validiate, invalidate, or neutrally reflect on whether our anecdotes have any substance. An anecdote by itself is completely useless. Seeing dozens of such from across a market from reliable sources gives a small sliver is what some markets are experiencing.

No one is saying these are all accurate or represenative of the general market. But by culling these we do find out that they are available in some areas. Would we rather just not ask? I don't remember the problems with such posts last year with the 360. The problem is when people assert availability as a general rule/expectation. e.g. My area was 360less well into spring but then availability paced demand with a sizable buffer. I think it is to be expected different areas will have different sell through rates as well as different peoples shopping habits will expose them differently.

Personally I like to hear how 360s are doing in Hungry, PS3s in Japan, and Wiis in Canada. Or how NY, NY is a lot different than Smallville, MO. It isn't just the consoles, but the demographics.

And to direct my attention to your unspoken point, I think there is enough evidence at this point to indicate that Wii is still very hard to find, partly because of so few shipments. And the PS3 availability has caught up with demand, although we cannot say much more than that for now. For all we know it could pace well (i.e. get 20 units in, sell all 20 units before next shipment) or it could tank completely due to many factors (absolutely unlikely) or be in the middlesomewhere... and toss in the impending EU launch availability may dry up and demand stay high, causing an increased lack of availability. Don't take this stuff so personal :smile:

@ Geeforcer: Thanks for the info. If I wasn't so busy/lazy (& depressed I cannot buy one) I would go out of my way to all the local shops. Meh, not enough time for that. Closest gaming specialty shop is 1hr away

 

[baten]

January is the slowest month in sales in all products. If Sony keeps sending PS3 to the stores, they will start to gather on the shelves, until february paychecks are issued ... But I dont think there will be a problem selling them in the end.
Wii is hard to find - but most probably also because the supply is still more limited, and this is in accordance with the latest NPD figures, that shows less Wii sold than everybody expected.

As far as I can tell, Sony is prepared to do a price-cut by the time they reach 10 mil. I do not think they are actually loosing money on the harware, on the contrary - their strategy this time around is to break-even as fast as possible, by milking the early-adopters and covering for all R&D and production preparing and associated costs. Then, they will be able to do almost any price cut they may wish.

As for anectode from the war - I'm from Europe, and this should make you guys laugh...