Don’t have a Wii yet? You may be out of luck through the holiday season. “There is no guarantee that we are not going to have ‘out-of-stock’ this holiday season,” George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications for Nintendo of America, said in an interview. “If you see one, buy it. Don’t assume that you can come back later and find one.”
I hear from some people (usually loyal to either Microsoft or Sony) that Nintendo is intentionally holding back stock in order to create a false shortage. The theory goes that the shortage creates hype, which in turn creates more sales for Nintendo. At the same time, with fewer available units being the result of an intentional shortage, one would think the sales wouldn’t be much different.
Being a business student though, Nintendo would benefit little and would actually probably hurt their position by holding back. That just leaves available stock in a warehouse while a consumer interested just buys a Xbox 360 or PS3 instead of waiting months for a Wii. It doesn’t add up. Still, comments like that from Harrison make even me wonder.
