When people line up outside stores for a product that will sell out within hours, I expect it to have been on sale for a month at most.
When I decided it'd be fun to surprise my boyfriend with a Nintendo Wii for his birthday in December, I didn't expect to be facing a situation like the one stated above as the Wii had been on the market for more than a year.
Even now, nearly five months later, the only way it seems I can buy one is in a bundle that costs $500 or more. I saved up, but I can't afford to drop nearly a month's rent on entertainment.
Despite the Wiis popularity, I would expect production to keep up with demand by now, even if the demand includes consumers from Europe and Asia. It has been reported that Nintendo produces 1.8 million units per month, which sounds like plenty to me.
Even so, people are still buying them up like Tickle Me Elmo, whose popularity I have never fully understood.
I could wait outside a store in the morning if I felt like getting up early, but I'm not a morning person. Online stores, according to wiialerts.com, will sell out of regularly priced unbundled Wii consoles within 10 minutes. I can't be waiting around my computer all day to see when they become available, and I don't want to be bombarded with text messages from their alert system. It seems I have no option left besides the overpriced bundles.
It's not like Nintendo needs to keep the illusion that Wiis are rare to keep selling them. I think people would buy them even if they've been sitting on the shelf for a couple of days. Nintendo could even be losing money by not meeting consumer demand.
One recent explanation behind the shortage, at least in the U.S., is that the consoles are going to Europe while the dollar is weak because exchanging Wiis for Euros yields higher profits, or at least that's what analyst Michael Pachter told the Dallas Morning News.
If bundles priced at $400 or less are still selling out almost as fast as regularly priced consoles and Nintendo is that concerned about profits, it could raise the price to make up for the weak dollar.
I know the outcry would be tremendous, but the Europeans are paying what is roughly equal to $380 for their Wiis.
I might be a little miffed at having to pay more than I had initially saved, but as long as the price increase isn't unreasonable, I'd still probably buy one if I had the money.
I don't think either party, consumers or Nintendo, would want a price hike — electronics don't increase in price over time. I haven't heard anything stating that Nintendo is producing Wiis at full capacity. On the contrary, I have heard they are limiting production.
If anything, not producing as many units as possible seems like something that would take a bigger chunk out of potential profits than a weak U.S. dollar.
Nintendo is one of the few companies to profit on its hardware, so I'd think it would try to get as many consoles in consumers' hands as possible.
Additionally, if fewer people own the console, then fewer games are bought and Nintendo's profits shrink further. Unless I'm missing something, it seems that Nintendo didn't quite think this one through.
I'm no expert in economics, but I can see that a shortage lasting this long is ridiculous.
With "Wii Fit" coming out in May, Nintendo is planning to increase advertising, which will make even more people want the system, so shortages are expected to last for at least another six months.
I'm going to finally have some time to kill this summer, and I was hoping to have a Wii to aid me in doing so.
I'd rather look silly waving a remote around in the comfort of my own home, but I guess I'll have to get over my embarrassment and go visit my Wii-owning friends instead.
Monique can be reached by e-mail at: monique.devoe@asu.edu.
