Rumor: Best Buy holding back Wiis
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Dec 10th 2008 at 10:55AM }
Still stuck for a Wii this holiday season? Worried that little Jonny and Jenny will regard you as the WORST PARENT OF ALL TIME come Xmas morning?Then know that there is still hope. A Go Nintendo tipster claims that his local Best Buy is clinging onto its Wiis until December 14. Come Sunday, the store will allegedly offer them out to customers with games bundled on top -- including Mario Kart Wii, which you should buy anyway, because it's a riot.
Sure, it's only a rumor, but a perfectly plausible one: Best Buy did something similarly sneaky last year. If you're still in the hunt for a Wii, we'd recommend a Best Buy visit this weekend.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Hex @ Dec 10th 2008 11:02AM
The best buy near me has had 25-30 Wii's sitting out on the floor in a pyramid for weeks and they still aren't moving. If they are holding them back, maybe they are just moving stock from stores where they aren't selling.
eatxchoui @ Dec 10th 2008 11:40AM
Same here. My local Best Buy still has their Wii Pyramid and claims Wii Fit will be in stock this week. They surround their pyramid with accessories and games. Kind of a nice display, actually.
Chuckles @ Dec 10th 2008 11:19AM
I've worked at a Best Buy around Christmas in the past and they will keep stock in back for their Sunday adds. This allows them to say they will be in stock on a certain day to bring in the customers who will hopefully also purchase other things as the margin on video game systems is nothing.
theman @ Dec 12th 2008 10:58PM
i work for a retail store and i work in the electronics department. when people come in and try to get a wii or wii fit i have to tell them we dont have any. the truth is, we have about 15 wiis and wii fits in the back. i feel like a scumbag lieing to people who just want to buy their kids a nice gift, but it is my job. i blame nintendo for not making enough wiis and wii fits just to create a buzz. everyone should be able to play good games for christmas. insted, some children are going to wake up disappointed. very sad
SoshiKitai @ Dec 10th 2008 11:42AM
You shouldn't blame Nintendo for not making enough, you should blame whoever is responsible for picking which shops get how many, for not choosing the right stores.
I've been to many stores that have had several copies of Wii or Wii Fit that literally get 1-2 customers who are interested in it. ...and due to them either not being a popular retail store within the area, or because they're the 3rd kind of that brand retail down the street (some areas have 4 of the same retail store not too far apart from the other), they don't get much customers.
...and what do these people do with the Wii and Wii Fit copies not sold?
...I really have no idea, but I have seen some employees walk away with a pretty good amount in the back of their cars... though a wonderful gift they'll bring to children, I'm pretty sure some of them are going on eBay.
sjames7 @ Dec 10th 2008 12:12PM
Do you really blame Nintendo for deliberately not making enough Wiis? Really? Think about it for a few minutes. Here, I'll get you started:
If you had a factory that could assemble one Wii every minute, it would take you almost 2 years just to make one million Wiis.
Now if you had 10 factories all cranking out this same amount it would take over two months to make one million Wiis.
Their current production is around 2.4 million Wiis a month up from 1.6 million last year. Part of that is due to the Wii selling so well and being able to throw more money into production and part of that is due to mass production becoming quicker and cheaper over time.
I love how people come up with or believe these conspiracy stories. Nintendo's best interest is to sell as many Wiis as possible now before the demand goes away. Falling to meet demand can result in the loss of the market. Every person that can't find a Wii right now is a missed opportunity for Nintendo to make money; as they say: "Opportunity knocks but once."
I fully welcome anyone's explanation of why and how they believe Nintendo is artificially inflating demand by constricting supply, provided it's a rational explanation.
sjames7 @ Dec 10th 2008 2:44PM
Oh, and I forgot to mention that Nintendo has already produced about 40 Million Wiis. If they've been making Wiis for 3 years now that means they have made 25 Wiis a minute nonstop for the last 3 years. Working nonstop is obviously impossible in the real world so my estimations are less than the factual values.
Based on 2.4 million Wiis a month, assuming the factories work 15 hours a day and 25 days a month, Nintendo makes over 100 Wiis a minute.
I'd say they are working as hard as they can to make money and there isn't some sinister plot.
But you never know...
Brian @ Dec 10th 2008 11:48AM
In some states, you are required by law to have a certain "Advertised Minimum in Stock" for a published sale item - you will sometimes see "Min. 20 per store" listed under the Wiis...stores that get more than that minimum are free to sell the "extras" early...some BBY's will hold some for RZ customer events as well.
fulluphigh @ Dec 10th 2008 12:50PM
What Brian said. We do this at bestbuy all the time, and I think it's hardly a secret. We often have some amount in stock by Friday or Saturday that we aren't allowed to sell under penalty of law, because we don't want to risk not having enough come Sunday's ad.
If we can sell them, I promise, we make every effort to. If anybody asks us when to expect some, that's what we tell. "Check in the ads on Sunday," because sometimes we know, though usually we don't know any more then the customers do.
Jedi_Liz @ Dec 10th 2008 12:57PM
I was lucky enough to get my Wii on my birthday this year, but some families aren't so lucky. Check ebay: why are there over 10,000 BRAND NEW Wiis on there? Because of WiiSellers. Some of these guys go out and buy all the stock up (at various stores, they can't buy all 25 or all 15, but some manage to do so), so families are forced to either pay inflated amounts on eBay or look for another way to get one.
I was at a Best Buy yesterday in Omaha, Nebraska. Out of curiousity, my dad and I looked to see if they had any Wiis.....we didn't see any. If there were any, they were in a different place.
Eric @ Dec 10th 2008 2:47PM
I agree - it's just stupid of Nintendo to under-produce. Nintendo doesn't get payed based on the demand, they get payed based on sales.
imbecile pete @ Dec 10th 2008 4:32PM
so theres a huge demand so they go and refuse to sell them? thats pure idiotism! oh and that youtube link is hilarious!
Ryan @ Dec 15th 2008 1:30PM
My best buy here in texas had a stack that big about 2 weeks ago...
MidnightScott @ Dec 10th 2008 6:08PM
Yeah I think RMC misquoted me. I was asking about Mario Kart Wii and they said they were holding it back until Dec. 14th. They didn't say anything about Wii's, but it is assumed I guess...
RAWRzilla @ Dec 11th 2008 9:06PM
This rumor is 100% true. I work at Toys R Us and they're doing the EXACT same thing for the EXACT same day.
Count on it.
some dude @ Dec 18th 2008 5:16PM
this is not a rumor.
best buy stores will hold back Wii consoles because they know, days, sometimes a week, in advance what will be advertised the next week. to disappoint fewer customers that sunday morning, they either hold the ad minimum, twice that amount, some arbitrary amount, or to be extreme, or all inventory that was received for that sunday. if they don't hold them all, they'll sell the ones they don't hold up until sunday.
yes, sometimes they need to hold all those Wiis in stock and maximize purchases of accessories with higher margin, increasing their chances of hitting budget for the day, which is usually high on sundays because it's the first day of the new weekly sales ad.
the store i frequent looked like it had 300 in a big mountain at the front of the store in the weeks leading up to thanksgiving. i am surprised they didn't hold them all until black friday.
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Thanks