Comments on: The Wii is still sold out

Even a year and a half after its release, the Nintendo Wii is still sold out online and is unavailable for purchase from major retailers such as Best Buy and Amazon.

[Cel_Cega]

Well I went yesterday morning to Target here in Seattle Washington, a bit of a line for the Wii Fit, probably about 30, I was 3rd in line. They had plenty of Wii Fits, enough for us in line but quickly sold out. Though much to my surprize, they had a ton of Wii consoles. I would say about 16. Another local retailer here in Seattle (Fred Meyer) had consoles in stock too. In fact over the past 2 weeks I've seen Wii Consoles in a few places. Seems the demand isnt as high or their just shipping them out. But with the Fit out now, might be sell out once again.

[MikeHolli]

It's ONLY a PLOY!! Think back to the releases of the PlayStation II, the Jaguar, Super Famicom System, etc. I could go on and on about dates they were promised and NEVER arrived on time, and some NEVER ever even showed up after all their hype. I say don't sweat it, you have what you have and can wait them out.

[yenaro]

Yes, I think that NINTENDO want to keep demand high in one way and in the other way NINTENDO has really created a console that has captivated a wide audience from the younger to older generations.

[sharmajunior]

I think the fault is at both ends. By both ends, it is an issue of the number of consoles created and how the stores sell them. They are just dirty business tactics. If you check online, Compusa is giving 2 Wii's away a day now, they were giving one away a day last month. These Wii's are the standard editions (model ABC), yet if you go and check out the Compusa website, you don't find any links to the Wii. On top of that, stores like BestBuy still have a ship load of Wii's that they are still not selling. I don't know the reason why. But as a rewardzone member I along with many other rewardzone members were offered a private shopping event at our neighborhood Bestbuy after the store closes. This little shopping event attracted approx. 200 people with a private invite (as the entry was by invite only). This is where I bought my Wii. Since I was one of the first in line, we were given special reseervation cards in order compare their Wii supply and our demands. At the store, I had noticed the existance of a stock of approx. 40 Wii consoles [the private invite stated that there would be atleast 15 Wii's per store, in participating stores]. After the end of the private shopping event, I had noticed that there were still approx. 25-30 consoles left. I still have no clue as to what happened to the remaining consoles. I haven't seen it displayed for sale online, everywhere you can consistantly see the Wii sold out.

Besides the stores, Nintendo has not increased production a whole a lot to cope up with the market demand. As far as I know, there are loads of stock still available in Europe. I don't see the logic behind why those stores aren't advertising to ship internationally. I haven't seen much activity there. It is only the US where the demand is so high, in other places around the world, the Wii sits on the shelf on an average for a couple of days as compared to a couple of mins. in the US.

[reli37]

Hey, I'm a 72year old retired IT manager and have a Wii. Both my wife (who is not a computer person at all)and I enjoy the simple games - bowling, golf, etc. It does give us a slight workout and it is fun.

[geeman1082]

Nintendo is trying to walk that fine line between keeping the demand and buzz hot and ticking off potential customers ... they could have easily ramped up production over the last year to meet all possible demand, but have chosen to ramp up only enough so that they can periodically announce another increase in production to re-fuel the demand ... it's a dangerous game, but they're playing it magnificantly so you have to give them kudos ... and I bought a 360 instead, so I'm happy ;-)

[hogan]

Nintendo vs Nokia - think about it, a Wii is an electronic gadget, made by machines, just like a mobile phone. When was the last time you wanted to buy a phone - even an Ipod and it was out of stock. Nintendo wouldn't have gone into manufacture with something that caused problems years into the process - the risk factor is too great.

Come on Nintendo, stock lying and get your act together. You could have built a silicone fab from scratch in all this time, so what is the real reason that you can't be bothered making the wii? I have 20 years in the electronics design and manufacturing business and I can't think of any good valid reason for failing like this. Quality isn't the issue, it is a lazy supply of products.

regards

martin hogan

[cdtphilpot]

I've walked into several stores over the past two weeks in Tulsa, OK and have seen Wii's on the shelves at both Wal-Mart and Target and not just early in the morning but also during the afternoon hours. I too worked in retail until earlier this month when I graduated from college and even when we got a shipment of 150 Wii's they were sold out in 1 1/2 hours.

[ancrom]

the lack of supply is artificial, I have two game stops a best buy , target , walmart, fye and an electronics boutique that I check on a weekly basis. most of them have not received a single wii since christmas. The best buy got three in for a special sale.Demand may be high but if they are doing as much as they say the stores would get some once in a while.Quite a lot of people who were bitten by the wii bug have moved on to other consoles.

[Ed316]

The Wii shortage is on purpose..and all due to the sinking US Dollar.. See, if Nintendo sells the Wii in the US and then the money goes back home to Japan, the current sinking dollar buys less Yen then if they sell the Wii in Europe and then convert the high valued Euro's in Yen.. They make MORE money on the Euro to Yen currency exchange in profit margin then on the US to Yen exchange.

[mason1399]

the walmart in belton,tx had like 30 wiis in stock last week...i saw em and was like...OMG...my sis has been wanting one for a while for her kids...so we picked one up for her

[Dennis Luka]

i dont think 500 million/month is right. how many people live in usa?

[lenber]

Captivating crap.

[jockow]

Supply and demand are independent functions, i.e. suppl;y does not increase demand. Shortage may discourage potential purchasers but will never increase demand. Try taking economics 101

[thomasterranova]

i don't think Nintendo is creating an artificial shortage. but i also don't think they've done everything they could to increase production during the past 1.5 years.

What really irks me about Nintendo is that they are allowing retailers to take advantage of the situation and to extort people by only selling package deals that include lots of slow-moving game titles or overpriced accessories. Nintendo could call a halt to all of this by simply stating that "Retailers can not sell the Wii only in packages. The Wii must also be made available alone. If you do not honor this, we will not ship more units to you."

Instead, however, I think they have knowingly allowed the retailers to do this. In exchange, they get more floor space and more PR from them. I don't think it's ethical for Nintendo to pimp out its consumers to retailers like that, allowing them to take advantage of us, so that both they and the retailers can continue stuffing their mattresses full of enormous, predatory profits.

[pjhealy]

Nintendo is creating the demand.
Supposedly there is a shotage due to everybody buying them, but I don't know anybody who has bought one, niether does my 11 year-old son. He says the same thing about his school friends, they can't find one in the stores, nobody.

[jamesY189]

i bought a wii in march!i love it!! there is no shortage in scotland!there was before christmas but there is plenty now!!!! there is a shortage of new games when they come out!like mario karts and wii fit! but they are not long in catching up.so i do think it is a shortage in the U.S.A. created by nintendo to keep the price high!!

[transtech]

Our local stores carry Wii without the frills. I just saw a number of them yesterday at Target for $248.00. I saw the bundled one with Mario Galaxy at Costco for $348.00. We don't live in a big city, which helps. The biggest problem I've seen is that people have been snapping them up and selling them on eBay to make a profit. Even with the "one Wii per customer", you can't stop someone from buying one now and then going back to the store an hour or a day later to buy it again. Ultimately, if there wasn't a demand for the console, there would be less success selling them on eBay and more would be on the shelves in stores. It is the consumer who keeps the demand high, thus justifying the high price for the product.

[mmarek53]

I had no luck in finding a WII until I registered with WIIalerts.com. I received an alert this week that Amazon had them in stock for $249.99 and had no problem ordering it. Not bad for only registering less than a week ago. You can do the same for WII Fit.

[burgersoft777]

Its true that Wii's are pretty hard to come by but thats the situation in the UK as well.
I put an order in and got one about half a year later. I suspect that if they could produce them faster they would. After all nobody buys a game for a machine they don't yet have. So the shortage is bad for them as well. As it is there has been very little gougeeing of price by the major sellers. Unlike Oil shortage has not been followed by excessive priceing. The machine is worth the wait BTW.