| twingo said: I don't really see a problem. Theres enough 60Gb PS3s in stock for a good 5 months, by then there will be an even bigger hd PS3 then 80GB. Once the 60GB is sold out some PS3 will take its place at $499, while an even bigger bundle will take the $599 spot. From day one the price was not the biggest problem, their inability to educate the consumer why The PS3 was is worth 500 or 600 bucks was. |
Sorry Twingo, but most people would disagree with you there. It doesn't matter whether the ps3 is worth 600$ or not, the price is the problem for sales. Most people don't have the disposable income to buy electronics for 600$. Note, I said most people, obviously there are those people that do. But until the price of a product reaches the critical mass market price, no matter its actual value, it still won't see its optimal sales potential.
We live in a wal-mart world. Low prices mean more than quality to most consumers.
Anyway, the longer they can hold the two SKU's, the better for Sony because they can justify selling the 80 GB version for so much, increasing their bottom line. This neatly solves their problem with the stockpiled ps3's they produced months ago.
For example, assume they have 1.5 million 60 GB ps3's they produced at a higher cost back before march. They've cut the cost of production per ps3 enough to almost break even, but before they can sell those new PS3's, they need to get rid of the older ones, so a price cut hits their bottom line harder than it should because those old ones are being sold at an even bigger loss.
This way, they can produce the cheaper 80 GB ps3's, sell those at the original price point (and probably breaking even or making a profit on each one), which offsets the price reduction for the older 60 GB ps3's. Also, because the price is lower, they are increasing sales of these guys, which recovers their investment in a more timely matter. By the time they're actually forced to sell the 80 GB ps3 for $500 bucks, they'll probably have the production costs lowered enough to keep it profitable.
edit: Forgot to say I'm impressed with the strategy myself. I think its a bit underhanded, but its a very good idea for Sony itself.
