In Jan. 2007, I was fortunate enough to purchase a Wii from Toys "R" Us. Back then, I never would have thought that the same supply/demand situation would still exist today. They are still very hard to find.
One recurring thought that I've had throughout this year is that Nintendo priced the Wii way too cheap. One quick look on eBay shows that people are willing to pay much more than $250. If everyone really desired immediate availability of the Wii on store shelves, a simple price increase would do the trick. Unfortunately, such a move would be attacked instead of praised.
Analysts are saying that Nintendo is leaving hundreds of millions (or maybe billions) of dollars on the table because they aren't producing them fast enough. I find it very hard to believe that Nintendo is purposefully not producing larger quantities. They have no guarantee that consumer demand will remain; and if billions are at stake, it would be a tremendous risk to take. They would be well within their rights to take such a risk, but I highly doubt that this is the case.
I don't think this a case of Nintendo leaving money on the table, I think this is a price issue. Unfortunately, the video game market does not operate like eBay or the stock market. If prices could freely fluctuate and adjust to supply and demand, there would be no worries of shortages.
Posted
Dec 14 2007, 04:19 PM
by
ChrisR