Is Best Buy purposely holding their stock?

by David Hinkle { Nov 13th 2007 at 12:45PM }

The Consumerist is reporting a very odd story. Apparently, some Best Buy out in New Jersey has been trying to pull the wool over the eyes of their patrons, with a single employee prowling the store, claiming to have the "very last Wii." Of course, someone snatched it up with the quickness, but not 30 minutes later, another employee was at it again, prowling the store looking for another customer to snatch the console from them. There was even an announcement on the PA system.

The tipster even said he overheard two manager types discussing the "sales technique," deciding on when they should send out the next Wii.

Tags: best-buy, retail, stock

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Chris @ Nov 13th 2007 12:53PM

Of course they are holding their stock... my buddy tried to get one from them, and even though they had them 'in the back' they refused to sell him one. They were stocking up for the Sunday morning rush after the Saturday newspaper ads.

Still, that is different than what is described in this story. I don't get it, it is as if they are having trouble selling them, so they need a ploy. If they just put them out, they would go in a second. I just don't understand why they would do this. They would sell regardless.

Undead Priest @ Nov 13th 2007 12:54PM

When I worked at TRU last year, the store did the same thing (but most of the held stock was to ensure enough for the ads). But we weren't so underhanded as to proclaim one as the last one.

vidGuy @ Nov 13th 2007 1:01PM

Of course. Lots of stores do this. They hold their stock for a big sale. Many stores often do this sales "tactic" - which I think is borderline deceptive sales but they don't care.

Lisa Hoover @ Nov 13th 2007 1:14PM

Yet another reason to loathe Best Buy. Adding to my already long list.

taintedzodiac @ Nov 13th 2007 1:19PM

Happens every year, especially in the weeks leading up to Black Friday in the US.

garu29 @ Nov 13th 2007 1:34PM

On the very rare occasions I shop at Best Buy, I always feel dirty afterwards.

I hate Best Buy! And I live in NJ too so it could be the same store!

.

ryaninc @ Nov 13th 2007 1:48PM

Yeah, this doesn't make much sense. It's not like they're having trouble selling Wiis...if they put their entire stock out on the shelves, they'd be gone within an hour, so...what gives?

Jason @ Nov 13th 2007 1:52PM

Maybe they should try this technique with the PS3...ohh wait, this still wouldn't trick someone into foolishly buying one!

R @ Nov 13th 2007 1:53PM

Perhaps since the employee is holding it and talking to the customer about it, then possibly he snags a sales commission on it?

RD @ Nov 13th 2007 1:57PM

It's obvious why they are doing this: Accessory sales. If they place their stock out on the floor, they run the risk of bargain shoppers raiding the quantity and leaving the store without purchasing 3 Wii remotes, games, cables, etc.

In other words, Best Buy makes $10 from the Wii, but they can capitalize on the accessory sale. By guarding their stock and letting one person float around the store and sell ad hock, they place themselves in the position of selling high from the start.

Doesn't make it right, though.

TravistyOJ @ Nov 13th 2007 2:35PM

Hey, I took that picture. :) I'm a star!

MLL @ Nov 13th 2007 2:47PM

I've never had any bad issues with Best Buy. Whatever issues you guys experienced makes me wonder if the employees helping you didn't like your attitude.

Andy S. @ Nov 13th 2007 2:47PM

R, Best Buy employees don't work on commission.

However, the store and the individual departments are scored on their attach rates (for accessories, service plans, etc.), so it could be that the employee with the "last" Wii is tasked with loading the suckered customer up with extra crap or refusing to sell the console if they resist the sales pitch.

So RD has it right... this is a tactic to babysit every individual Wii sale and turn it into a goldmine of accessory sales.

cmichaelt @ Nov 13th 2007 2:47PM

is it even legal for a store to do such a process?

wiley @ Nov 13th 2007 3:10PM

I went to best buy yesterday to get super mario galaxy and they said they can't sell games until the day after release or else they will get fined $250 per copy
i call BS on that, but they wouldn't sell them, despite the fact i could see them in the back

nick @ Nov 13th 2007 3:25PM

I currently work at best buy, and the one I work at they get shipments in periodically throughout the day. From what I have seen, that may have been an isolated incident. The store I work at rox.

Nate @ Nov 13th 2007 3:30PM

@ comment 1.
It doesn't matter if they are in the back or not. They HAVE to hold them for the Sunday Ad if they are going to be advertised. This isn't shady or anything. If you look on the ad there is garunteed number, they have to keep them. Plus if this is the case, they get them on Friday, so hold your horses for 2 days.

@ comment 15
I call BS on you. Super Mario is released on Tuesday (TODAY). They can't sell games before the street date. So if you went there yesterday (MONDAY), then you are retarded.

Sora57 @ Nov 13th 2007 3:40PM

I have mixed feelings about best buy. Sometimes its good, sometimes it sucks. Check your packaging VERY carefully and make sure all the seals are still perfectly in place and that there are no tape marks where wrapping paper might have been pulled off. I have been burned by getting a box that looked perfect in the store, but upon opening it at home, the contents had already been opened and the unit was broken.

Sora57 @ Nov 13th 2007 3:43PM

..Of course, I brought it back and got a perfectly good one, but it was a pain in the neck.

Meldarred @ Nov 13th 2007 4:03PM

@ comment 17

The release date for Galaxy was the 12th. Originally I thought it was the 13th as well, but after checking out the countdown site on ign.com the date got pushed up to the 12th. I won't get my copy until later today :(

kyle @ Nov 13th 2007 4:06PM

dude im going to change the subject for a minute u guys know resident evil unbrella chronicles all the stores but best buy said it would come out today but it didnt ok back to the subject i was waiting in line like 2 days after it came out ( at best buy ) and they sold the last one but thier was a thousand in the back and they said '' sorry sir we dont have anymore" whats up with that

Larz @ Nov 13th 2007 4:36PM

Yep, they do crap like that. I have a friend that works for Best Buy and tells me stories like that a lot. The employees hate doing it but they're forced to by the managers. That's why everyone thinks they're on commission even though they're not.

TVGenius @ Nov 13th 2007 5:11PM

One thing some of you might be confusing on Galaxy is that some sites, like GameStop's, are listing release dates as the day before, since that's when they'll overnight it to you.

As for the scarcity of Wiis, still, I'm on vacation and just ran into a guy that, along with his wife, had been tearing Eugene, OR, apart trying to find one, and his wife had found out the Wal-Mart in Roseburg, an hour away, has about 20 in stock, and sent him to get one.

james @ Nov 13th 2007 5:58PM

Best Buy has pretty much always been a bad experience for me. This only makes me hate them more.

madcap @ Nov 13th 2007 6:21PM

pepoel is still tring to get a wii i been got my wii when it first came out

HawthorneKitty @ Nov 13th 2007 6:51PM

It may be true that they are just stocking them up, but it's not going to help them as every Wii is going to be gobbled up, regardless of who has them.

Jayson Barclay @ Nov 13th 2007 9:55PM

I have also had a "Worst Buy" Experience. A few weeks ago I was shopping for a new Hi-Fi for the house. The punk kid at Best Buy said they didn't sell turntables with built in cassette decks anymore! What a total liar. I know I've seen them there before. I told the punk he was wet behind the ears, and to go change his diaper. From here on out I'm doing all my stereophonic shopping at Pacific Stereo.

Evan Nohra @ Nov 13th 2007 11:09PM

To all of you hating the sales technique: They are a COMPANY whose job it is to MAKE MONEY. If you don't want to buy accessories(which you need) then don't buy it from Best Buy, anyone can be a Wal-mart and clerk sales. I shop at Best Buy for the knowledgeable sales associates and information I am able to get from them. They are not commission so they have no reason to steer you from what you need.
Comment to the reply of a "Worst Buy" experience: If you feel that the employee was wrong in what they told you, did you do anything about it? NO you just reacted like a standard ignorant customer and went straight home to post on the internet. Why did you not contact a manager so they could correct and make better their associate. If you don't do that then how can you expect to pass on all the great knowledge you obviously have over the rest of us.

ps. Please join us in the new millennium and get rid of the vinyl hippie.

gerg @ Nov 14th 2007 1:19AM

I don't think so...every time I go into the best buy in my town, I see at several Wii's on the shelf. But then again, I was at TRU a couple weeks ago for the B2G1Free sale, and there was a line for Wiis. But I have heard numerous reports of Circuit City and KMart holding them.

By the way, Super Mario Galaxy is fantastic!!!

Pickle @ Nov 14th 2007 7:51AM

They hold items for the ad on sunday for legal reasons. If they run it in the sunday ad on the front page and list a set amount available then they have to meet that minimum amount.

But what this blog claims they NJ store is doing is just wrong.

Tom @ Nov 14th 2007 10:24AM

I would suggest that this is simply to make the customer buy the Wii on impulse, if someone is price shopping for a Wii, and goes to BB first (mistake) they see that BB only has one left, they might not take their chances shopping elsewhere, instead they'll buy that one then. If they wait they might miss their chance to get a Wii at all!

Just a thought

Brokenbokken @ Nov 14th 2007 10:41AM

Every time I shop at Best Buy, as I leave I get this strange sensation that I've been ripped off.

Leon @ Nov 14th 2007 12:48PM

Best Buy is the worst freaking buy you can ever have. Never go there to buy anything, except maybe a candy bar. Hopefully that won't be overpriced.

Jay Hash @ Nov 15th 2007 4:05AM

@comment 23: The guy obviously wasn't looking very Hard for Wii's. I went into the various game stores a couple days in a row over the last weekend, and the Best Buy in springfield, the Circuit City near Gateway Mall, and the GameStop at Valley River Center all had Wii's just sitting out in the open. I was rather flabbergasted myself as to how many I saw just out and untouched because I had been looking so hard for one back in July and August, and didn't end up finding one until end of September at Best Buy no less. I think I might have even see a few at Target and Walmart on West 11th. They're like stray pennies up here in Eugene, OR: you can pick one up anywhere.

~jyh

chrysee @ Nov 15th 2007 11:40AM

I'd expect them to hold stock right now if only because Black Friday is coming up so soon. But again, on Black Friday stuff is generally on crazyass sales so if they sold all their Wiis this week wouldn't they make more money??

Whatev.

Like everyone else has said, these technique doesn't make much sense since the Wii is selling really well. I mean, if you go into BestBuy wanting to buy a Wii, it doesn't matter if there's one left or a whole stack left, you're still only going to buy _one_ and then leave.

Seems kind of silly to me. Then again we got ours like a year ago and god knows last time we touched the damn thing.

Shandooga @ Dec 6th 2007 8:19PM

Perhaps the strategy is to have the word go out that they're *the* place to get a Wii, once everyone else has sold out. The benefit of this is that, presumably, people are much more likely buy other things while in the store during the #1 shopping season of the year.

KyleXLR @ Dec 11th 2007 2:47AM

I work as a BestBuy.com Customer Care Representative, and I can attest that Best Buy is really hoarding Nintendo Wiis, DS Lite and other stuff.

They're going to make them become available a few days before Christmas at a very high price. That's what we've been told.

KyleXLR @ Dec 11th 2007 2:56AM

And oh, by the way I just checked the online inventory system, because a customer called in complaining about the Nintendo Wii w/c is displayed as available only online but was sold out.

She saw the Best Buy store near her place with Nintendo Wiis but they refused to sell one to her. According to the sales rep. they were already sold for pickup.

I checked the online inventory and found out a total of 364 Nintendo Wiis available.