Could NPD be Wrong?

[Ail]

Viper1 said:

Ail said:

Viper1 said:
Both Toys R Us and Wal-Mart increased their share of video game sales (thanks to Wii and DS) right at the time the NPD stopped tracking them.

 

Definitly agree with Wall Mart representing a significant percentage of the sales.

But Toys are Us ?

Come on...

What's their market share, 4%, 5% ?

They are definitly way behind Gamestop, Wall Mart, Best Buy and Target...( and those 4 should represent above 75% of the market just by themselves).

And lets not forget that NPD does track the number 1 retailer for video game sales in the US ( which is Gamestop as confirmed by The Source a few months ago when we had a thread about it).

Overall, yes.  But what is their share of Wii and DS sales?  It's much higher than that.   Let's look at what happens when NPD undertracks Wii by 15% due to lack of reporting from Wal-Mart and TrU.

Actual sales = 800k.
NPD reports = 800k - 15% = 680k.

 

Wall Mart + Toys Are Us together probably represent like 30-35% marketshare.

 

If NPD was off total by 15%, considering how they have reliable numbers for the rest of the market it would mean those 15% off came from estimating what sold at Wall Mart and Toys Are Us.

That would mean their estimates would have to be off by 50% for those two.......

 

More than doubtfulll especially during a period where nothing significant came to alter the Wii selling pattern of the previous months....