By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
KLAMarine on 22 June 2017
Edit Thread
Aeolus451 said:
KLAMarine said:

Okay, as requested, I've looked it up and I found it at the following web page:

https://www.sitepoint.com/scarcity-marketing/

And it's defined as follows:

"Scarcity marketing involves motivating people to buy something by telling them there is a shortage in what is available and a limited time to act. The goal is to create a sense of urgency through an aggressive call to action; to make people scared that they will not be able to acquire something that they want if they don’t act fast."

And an example is given:

"One of the most notable examples of scarcity marketing – the Disney Vault – started during the 1980s. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment began to reissue limited editions of their films and urge consumers to purchase these films before they went back into the “Disney Vault.” Because each Disney film is only for a limited time before it is put in the vault and not made available for several years until it is released again, consumers are driven to act fast when a new video is released."

I'm noticing a difference however: in the Disney Vault example, Disney urges consumers to purchase these limited edition films before they go back to the "Disney Vault" helping to create a sense of urgency.

Contrast this to Nintendo that has said numerous times that it plans to up production of the Switch for the sake of meeting demand:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/nintendo-to-double-production-of-switch-console-1489728545

http://time.com/4705071/nintendo-switch-production/

https://www.ft.com/content/7edcebea-4207-11e7-82b6-896b95f30f58

http://bgr.com/2017/06/22/where-to-buy-nintendo-switch-online-shipments-increasing/

http://cogconnected.com/2017/06/nintendo-switch-shortage-apology/

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/06/15/e3-2017-nintendo-working-to-scale-up-switch-production

As for the history of Nintendo hardware shortages, understand that a shortage can have multiple causes: supplier purposefully holding back supply is one, supplier underestimating demand is another. How does one distinguish between the two?

This brings me back to a question I asked you before and you have yet to answer: how does one distinguish between a product being scarce because the supplier is intentionally holding back supplies and a product being scarce because demand is beyond manufacturing and supply chain capabilities?

Nintendo nor any other company would admit they used scarcity marketing in the past or using it now. So quoting what ninty says isn't very relevent. It's just the kind of pr that goes along with it. Owning up to the practice would defeat the point of it and consumers generally don't like it. It's a smart business strategy but it has some risks.

In response to your questions, you can't distinguish between the two just from one instance (like looking just at the switch because you can easily say it's due to supply contraints, etc) but you can tell the difference if it's obvious, something is leaked or if it's done enough to form a pattern. In ninty's case, they've done it enough to show a pattern if you look at past shortages with their other products and you're just honest with yourself about it.

Does this methodology you describe eliminate the possibility that Nintendo is just terrible at anticipating demand or perhaps external factors have come into play like a NAND shortage?

A number of outlets are reporting or have reported on NAND shortages:

https://www.kitguru.net/components/matthew-wilson/dram-and-nand-supply-shortage-expected-to-last-until-2018/

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/ssd-hdd-shortage-nand-market,33112.html

https://www.techpowerup.com/234565/no-relief-for-dram-and-nand-shortages-in-sight-considerable-supply-only-in-2018

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/nand-flash-memory-supply-shrinking-ssd-prices-rising/

 

And Nintendo needs these components to assemble Switch units. They're competing with smart phones:

 

http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/05/31/demand-for-nintendo-switch-leads-to-nintendo-and-apple-battling-for-scarce-parts/

https://www.slashgear.com/apple-is-to-blame-for-your-nintendo-switch-shortage-30486866/

http://bgr.com/2017/05/30/switch-console-and-iphone-8-parts/

 

So if you're looking to place blame for Switch shortages on a conspiracy theory, please understand that a shortage can have multiple causes. In the Switch's case, a NAND shortage or Nintendo's inability to anticipate runaway demand.

Unless, like Curl-6 stated, Toshiba and smartphone makers are in on the conspiracy too to limit the supply of Nintendo Switch units out on store shelves.

curl-6 said:

So if Nintendo's lying about shortages, what about Toshiba, and all the other sources citing the scarcity of components like NAND memory? Is it all some vast industry-wide conspiracy to make Switch look popular? That's entering tinfoil hat territory.