| Train wreck said: Retail presence in gaming is important and the decline of the Nintendo shelf space is alarming. During the Wii/DS era, you would have entire isles devoted to each, they would have their own end caps, be featured in front of the store for big releases, etc. Now, even with the 3DS being available 3+ years and the Wii U for almost two, on average, in the stores I frequent, shelf space is all combined (Wii, Wii U, DS and 3DS) or the total space is just one isle. The Nintendo family of products no longer offer the same value proposition to retailers from say 2006-2011. With the Wii and DS retailers were able to push accessories which have very high retail markups, thus high margins for them. Xbox for the most part has remained the same since 2005, commanding a lot of space with the X360 still and growing for Xbox one, the same with the PS3 and PS4. Most of the Vita space I have seen is coupled at the ends of PS3 isles and is a drastic reduction from the height of the PSP days, but the Vita is not selling well and (the console itself) is never stocked well. |
Sounds like you're defending a thread like this.
No one is debating the importance of retailers. However, this is a picture of one store. Even if it were a picture of multiple stores, there will be varying degrees in all sorts of places. Demographics are a thing. If it weren't, then all stores would look the same and advertising would be extremely simple and the console war would be very easily decided.
I don't think anyone here can accurately say how the shelf space is for each system as a whole. At best, you know your local area. This is why you go to those who track the sales like NPD.
So, since we already know the WIi U isn't doing amazingly and given what I said, this thread serves almost no point at all except to say that where he is, at Best Buys around him, the Wii U isn't stocked very well. It means nothing beyond that.
