BMaker11 said:
Then why don't they just say that? They know what retailers they shipped their consoles to. I mean.....they are the ones that shipped them. Walmart, Target, Best Buy, etc report their numbers back to MS, so MS knows who has available units. Just say it's sold out at Walmart, Gamestop, Best Buy, etc. if that's where it's sold out. Don't feign unavailability of the console by being vague. If there are retailers that do have units, how about spilling the beans so consumers can buy them. Maybe then they can be open and honest when they say "we're sold out worldwide". And no, I don't mean that they demand the numbers from each and every single retail store. But if a store has 5 or 6 units in stock, it will show up when you search for it online (yea, it may be for that one store, but if that one store is a Walmart, for example, and they post online that 5 or 6 are available, it was show up as "Available at Walmart.com" if only for a few minutes.) Then they can say "it's sold out at X, Y, and Z, but if you check out A, B, or C you may find some". |
This isn't how retail and logistics work, and this is coming from someone who has managed at two of the retailers you listed.
MS and Sony both can control what stores get what units. If they see a Walmart in the middle of nowhere in Texas, they can decide to not ship that store any units and instead focus on bigger cities with higher demand. Same as Gamestop or Target or Best Buy. After that though, once the product is on its way to those retailers distribution centers, all control is out of MS's hands. In order for your idea to work, MS would need a way to have up to the minute inventory data for these stores. That doesn't exist. None of these stores even provide up to date information for their own use, let alone for a supplier.
Lets take Walmart for example. MS might be able to say hey, lets ship 4 consoles to this store, we did get data from last week and they sold out fast. Ok, so they ship 4 consoles to the distribution center for that area. That ends any control they have. They have no way to control how long it takes for that product to be accounted for and sorted at the DC. Then it has to be loaded onto the truck, which again, they have no control of. That truck then has to be driven to the store, which is out of MS's hands. Once at the store, that truck might be unloaded that day, or it might be the next, or even the next day. MS has no control on that. Once unloaded, does MS control whether the product goes right to the sales floor or not? No. So they have no way of being able to say "its sold out at Walmart, Gamestop, Best Buy, etc". What you are proposing they say is actually way more vague than what they actually said.
Have you tried to search for one of these consoles online? Walmart and BB last I checked, don't even allow you to. Gamestop and Target still do, but the results are not accurate. If these retailers cannot even provide accurate information for their own website, how do you expect MS or Sony to have accurate information? And what do you think would happen as soon as MS released a statement saying hey, Best Buy store 532 in whatever city has X amount of consoles available? That store is going to be hammered with calls and people coming in looking for it and in reality they're either already sold or will last maybe an hour. And what if they actually say "hey guys Walmart and Best Buy are both completely sold out! look elsewhere"? Well then some Walmart in some random city in some random state is going to have freight brought out to the floor and low and behold theres 4 Xbones. Then someone snaps a picture and suddenly MS is lying and blah blah. Not only that but if MS says they have none at Walmarts, then that means most people won't even try there when in reality lots of stores probably will get some that day. Do you really think any of these retailers want MS or Sony steering customers away from them with inaccurate inventory information?
They made a simple comment, that they are sold out at retailers around the world. It's a very simple comment and it's the truth. It's adorable watching people try to twist it into a negative though.
