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Forums - Sony - Sony must've really got the jump on retailers with the 80gb price drop...

Borkachev on 29 October 2007

I think it definitely means that it was a reactive price cut to the results from September NPD. No one expected their sales to go down in a 5 week month with Lair launching at the tail end of August, and Heavenly Sword dead center in September. In a mall close to where I work, there are two game stores, and one of them STILL shows $599 for the 80gb pack, while the other has $499.

I think it's a lot more likely that they wanted to avoid the kind of leak fiasco that preceded the E3 price drop. Slipped rumours of a drop 2 weeks before it happens really undermines the PR impact of the official announcement, as well as sales during that period. This time, while we knew the 40 gig was coming, the drop on the 80 gig was uncertain until the announcement came.

It's possible that the sales preserved by keeping the lid on the announcement until the last minute canceled out the sales lost by catching retailers off-guard and delaying the extra advertising. After all, even if they didn't get the drop into this flier, it'll be in the next one...

Still wanna know about whether or not 60's are 400.......

Officially, they're still $500. Just about all the stores that still have them are selling them for $450, though.



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Onimusha12 on 29 October 2007

the real question is now, with two new SKUs released in less than six months of each other why not just wait a little longer for an even cheaper PS3 (new SKU or price drop) to be available.



johnsobas on 29 October 2007
Borkachev said:
I think it definitely means that it was a reactive price cut to the results from September NPD. No one expected their sales to go down in a 5 week month with Lair launching at the tail end of August, and Heavenly Sword dead center in September. In a mall close to where I work, there are two game stores, and one of them STILL shows $599 for the 80gb pack, while the other has $499.

I think it's a lot more likely that they wanted to avoid the kind of leak fiasco that preceded the E3 price drop. Slipped rumours of a drop 2 weeks before it happens really undermines the PR impact of the official announcement, as well as sales during that period. This time, while we knew the 40 gig was coming, the drop on the 80 gig was uncertain until the announcement came.

It's possible that the sales preserved by keeping the lid on the announcement until the last minute canceled out the sales lost by catching retailers off-guard and delaying the extra advertising. After all, even if they didn't get the drop into this flier, it'll be in the next one...

Still wanna know about whether or not 60's are 400.......

Officially, they're still $500. Just about all the stores that still have them are selling them for $450, though.

 

just came back from target, my friend told me they got wiis in so i went there and got it for a christmas present.  They just got the shipment in that morning and i came in at 12:00 and got the last one so it seems it took 3 hours to sell 25 units. 

I was kind of shocking to see that the 80 gig was still $600, and the 60 gig was $500.  Seriously, target has to be well aware of the price cut and just isn't dropping it for some reason yet.



currently playing: Skyward Sword, Mario Sunshine, Xenoblade Chronicles X

Borkachev on 29 October 2007

I was kind of shocking to see that the 80 gig was still $600, and the 60 gig was $500. Seriously, target has to be well aware of the price cut and just isn't dropping it for some reason yet.

Really? I assumed this was just an issue of outdated advertisements being published. Very strange, you almost never see game consoles being sold outside the MSRP.



Mistershine on 29 October 2007
TheBigFatJ said:
senseinobaka said:
if I was a store manager and these kind of shenanigans started affecting my P/L's I would drop the product. Then I would transfer any on hand to another store.

If you had another store, this would suggest you were a chain.  And as such, you probably have an agreement with Sony as a chain and you cannot make changes to their products individually.  This should include your willingness to stock it, the price point, etc.  

Could someone from the retail business explain what's going on here?  Retailers cannot set their own prices for the PS3 -- maybe they have a grace period before compliance with the price cuts is mandatory.


I don't know about the US but in the UK its illegal for manufacturers to set prices for retailers.



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FishyJoe on 29 October 2007

In the US it's legal for a manufacturer to stop sales to a retailer, if that retailer is undercutting the MSRP.



senseinobaka on 31 October 2007
Entroper said:
senseinobaka said:
if I was a store manager and these kind of shenanigans started affecting my P/L's I would drop the product. Then I would transfer any on hand to another store.

Then you'd be demoted or fired. You can't just screw around with inventory like that on a whim. If you were a store manager, you'd probably know that.


That would depend. If it's a franchise agreement or a store owned by a coporation. As a franchise manager, I have sovreignty over my store and shelves. And I would not continue to sell PS3's if they were netting me -$100. If I was the manager of a cooperate store, then I do have rules to play by.



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