jarrod said:
Wal-mart has a huge and complex internal warehouse and trucking system, they almost always hold back and retain stock. Same deal but smaller scale for Target, K-Mart, etc. And not many companies are going to go through the heavy expense to overnight PS3s (that they make a pittance on) just because they may have sold out, especially if they have units scheduled via ocean freight or something. You can't just will the boat to move faster, the docks to clear faster, customs to inspect faster, etc. This isn't taking their sweet time, this is how shipping logistics work. Again, 2-3m in the channel is NORMAL. The only times you won't see it is when there are dramatic and prolonged supply constraints, like Wii's first 2 years or the first year of DSL. Or if a company smooth talks retailers and channel stuffs to meet lofty targets (this generation Sony and MS have both done this, though not recently). |
so, they'd rather retain stocks than sell them to make more money? riiigght!
as for shipping, ever heard of forcasting? what ever ps3s that are in transit via cargo ships or wwhatever that are scheduled to arive after the christmas season are ment for sale in january-feb-march. most, if not all ps3s, or any retail item for that matter that are meant for sale during Nov-december are forcasted ahead of time, some even do their sales forecasts as eary as jun-sept. meaning, manufacturers are given schedules when they need to ship out and deliver their goods to cover the retailers orders.
knowing that the demand after the christmas season will drop to 150-200k per week WORLDWIDE, and having almost 3M units in CHannel is NOT NORMAL. it is grossly grossly over stocked and will most likely be returned to the manufacturer. and obviously, the ps3 was selling out andd shortages were observed, meaning, sony didn't have to flood the market with too mcuh ps3s just to hit targets as it was obvious that they were barely meating demand.
