| Sky Render said: Million: how aware are you of the sales mechanics of a product which has a monopoly? This might sound odd in light of the site, but the Wii does have a monopoly in the industry. Specifically, it has a monopoly with the audience that it draws in for its features which are not found or reasonably similar on any other product on the market. To that segment of the market, the Wii sells by monopoly market trend rules. That is, in fact, the key lure of Blue Ocean Strategy, finding a market segment with no competition where one can exercise a monopoly. |
Ok i'll agree that the Wii has a monopoly over the demongraphic they established and because of that they'll apear to sell very with 1:1 sales:demand and look even better if they sell 0.8:1 sales:demand but let's remind ourselves that a monopoly doesn't have as much discression in what it can do with a product that is considered a luxury , this is an even more significant point considering the current economic climate.
People will most likely buy Wii's regardless but there will always be a point at which the Wii could become unatractive to the consumer regardless of wether Nintendo had a monopoly of the the demographic or not. If Nintendo oversupplies then the Wii doesn't apear to perform as well , alot of the hype and publicity Nintendo get's from the Wii as being the "must have Summer/X-mas/all year round" item is lost. If Nintendo increase the price of the Wii to $1000 then the demographic goes to something else ; believe it or not the Wii is not something the consumer needs to have , if push comes to then people will find an alternative.
The demographic Nintendo established aren't hardcore gamers and could find other ways to socialise with people or have fun alone in their own time , Nintendo have them hooked at the moment but it wouldn't take alot to turn them off . The New nintendo demographic isn't like the traditional gamer in that they'll buy a console even if they believe they are paying more than their perceived value of it ( PS3 @ $600 launch price for example ).
