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Nintendo punishes jp. retailers that dropped the price on SMG

F

farnham

Banned
According to some reports on 2ch (yup nichaneru.. so take it with a large pinch of salt) Nintendo cut the supply of some retailers that dropped the price on SMG.. As you know SMG sold horribly soon after its launch and was marked as a initial failure by many people (even in this forum).. but it cought up in sales with the release of wii fit... and now the first shipment sold out, leaving a huge probability for SMG doing 1 million copies within 2008...

Now what happened to the crazy bastards that sold SMG for a lower prize due to over shipment.. well apparantly nintendo just stopped shipping any hardware or software to them.. with the Top 30 beeing mostly Nintendo games and the Top 2 hardwares beeing mostly nintendo hardwares that could be called quite a blow to those poor guys.. Well at least they had Gran Turismo 5P and PS3s to sell..

http://ruliweb2.empas.com/ruliboard/read.htm?main=nin&table=game_nin02&page=1&left=b&num=14283
 
V

Visualante

Member
So what, in Japan a retailer can cut the price of a game and Nintendo takes a hit in their profit?
I thought it was a pay-up-front deal where any reductions that occur in store result in the retailer making a loss.

If they cut the price to sell the stock out of their own profit margin why does Nintendo deserve to punish them?
farnham said:
The justification of Nintendo apparantly is that those retailers violated the monopoly clause :lol :lol :lol

they were concerned that other retailers wouldnt sell enough if those retailers would drop the price so drastically..
Click to expand...
Jesus. Reminds me of something Yamauchi would do.
 
F

farnham

Banned
The justification of Nintendo apparantly is that those retailers violated the monopoly clause :lol :lol :lol

they were concerned that other retailers wouldnt sell enough if those retailers would drop the price so drastically..
 
J

Jonnyram

Member
Well Ruliweb is hardly 2ch, but I'd appreciate knowing where this originally came from. Any chance you can PM me the original 2ch URL?
 
T

Troidal

Member
Nintendo's known for their evil doings towards retailers for years.

They would force retailers to stock up on their crap games along with Pokemon or they wouldn't ship the numbers the retailers ordered from them.
 
N

norinrad21

Banned
Troidal said:
Nintendo's known for their evil doings towards retailers for years.

They would force retailers to stock up on their crap games along with Pokemon or they wouldn't ship the numbers the retailers ordered from them.
Click to expand...

Name a few of these crap games.
 
J

Jonnyram

Member
Yeah, they did a similar thing with the Famicom Mini series and the Famicom GBA SP - they said they would only give hardware if all the games were ordered too... it seemed to work out ok, though.
 
G

grandjedi6

Master of the Google Search
Reggie forcing DSs upon retailers, Iwata punishing retailers. Nintendo never truly learns, do they

legend166 said:
Hah, everyone hates retailers until Nintendo becomes involved, then they become the poor little beaten down retailers.
Click to expand...

This logic makes little sense. We are hating the underhand business tactics, not Nintendo itself
 
X

Xapati

Member
legend166 said:
Hah, everyone hates retailers until Nintendo becomes involved, then they become the poor little beaten down retailers.
Click to expand...

Since when do we hate retailers? And seriously, can you endorse this shit if it's true?
 
P

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Xapati said:
Since when do we hate retailers? And seriously, can you endorse this shit if it's true?
Click to expand...

Of course just like Sony fans or MS fans do when they do not mind any method used to sustain the success their particular product might be enjoying... or how they switch allegiances/hype/excitement and hate for companies depending on what console they are developing for...
Example: Factor 5 were at god-like status on GCN because they pushed the machine far harder than many other developers and people who "strongly" supported the other two consoles could not stand them... Factor 5 goes to develop games on a Sony platform and leaves Nintendo behind... supposedly LAIR proved that Factor 5 could NOT make any more games ever because no one would have any hope in anything they touched... Factor 5 announces that they are developing something for Wii and suddenly well maybe yeah, maybe people should not judge Factor 5's titles before having really played them in their final status and "got them".
 
C

Cosmonaut X

Member
Who loses out when Japanese retailers slash the price? I’m assuming it’s the retailers as the normal situation would seem to be for them to buy from Nintendo then make their money back (plus profit, hopefully) by selling on to their customers. In that case, Nintendo’s alleged actions here seem peculiar – surely the retailers have been “punished” enough by cutting prices when SMG sales blew up over the holidays?
 
F

farnham

Banned
Jonnyram said:
Well Ruliweb is hardly 2ch, but I'd appreciate knowing where this originally came from. Any chance you can PM me the original 2ch URL?
Click to expand...
well they stated that the original source is 2ch hardware boards

i stopped bothering about 2ch a while ago.. (i hate the interface)

it should be somewhere around here

http://namidame.2ch.net/ghard/
 
R

radioheadrule83

Banned
grandjedi6 said:
Reggie forcing DSs upon retailers, Iwata punishing retailers. Nintendo never truly learns, do they

This logic makes little sense. We are hating the underhand business tactics, not Nintendo itself
Click to expand...

Offering popular product as incentive to push or sell other product probably isn't that uncommon...

as for punishing retailers who drop the price, they did it for the same reasons they try to limit shops importing in Europe and the US. If people import, it hurts retailers. If one retailer breaks MSRP and sells lower, it hurts the competing retailers.

*shrug* Makes sense to me.

Given how this may have actually helped spur SMG sales a little, and as long as the retailers paid for their shipment in full, I'd favor such punishment less. Unless of course they're worried about software prices dropping across the board, creating a perception problem of sorts.
 
F

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
grandjedi6 said:
Reggie forcing DSs upon retailers, Iwata punishing retailers. Nintendo never truly learns, do they

This logic makes little sense. We are hating the underhand business tactics, not Nintendo itself
Click to expand...
Because those "forced" DSs are just stacking up in stores. :lol

I agree with you though.
 
Azelover

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
Cosmonaut X said:
Who loses out when Japanese retailers slash the price? I’m assuming it’s the retailers as the normal situation would seem to be for them to buy from Nintendo then make their money back (plus profit, hopefully) by selling on to their customers. In that case, Nintendo’s alleged actions here seem peculiar – surely the retailers have been “punished” enough by cutting prices when SMG sales blew up over the holidays?
Click to expand...

This doesn't really benefit them, or the retailer. What they were trying to do here is protect other retailers from having to drop prices, when one retailer drops the price the others are pressured. They're trying to avoid that.

I know at first glimpse this sounds greedy and Yamauchi-like, but it's actually not.
 
Azelover

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
grandjedi6 said:
Reggie forcing DSs upon retailers, Iwata punishing retailers. Nintendo never truly learns, do they
Click to expand...

Well, what other metric do you suggest him to use? Sell out timer? Wiis were flying off the shelves no matter what store they shipped them to, they could guess and use other methods, but since their only console not supply constrained was the DS, it's not surprising its sales would serve as a good indicator of where demand was. And besides announcing it benefits them and the retailer, big deal.
 
I

IzumiK

Banned
Don't get it. Retailers buy from publishers so Nintendo already got the money. Why punish retailers for selling it for less?
 
C

Cosmonaut X

Member
Azelover said:
Well, what other metric do you suggest him to use? Sell out timer? Wiis were flying off the shelves no matter what store they shipped them to, they could guess and use other methods, but since their only console not supply constrained was the DS, it's not surprising its sales would serve as a good indicator of where demand was. And besides announcing it benefits them and the retailer, big deal.
Click to expand...

What was the real deal with the "forced DS" story? ISTR it was simply that the stores that were selling the most DS would receive the largest Wii allocations - was that not the case?
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Cosmonaut X said:
What was the real deal with the "forced DS" story? ISTR it was simply that the stores that were selling the most DS would receive the largest Wii allocations - was that not the case?
Click to expand...

Yes
 
P

Phife Dawg

Member
Makes sense. Apart from protecting the other retailers consumers will also wait out on a release when they can be sure that a price cut/collaps is to follow shortly after launch. Punishing the retailers sounds like a dick move but it's not Yamauchi bad and wasn't there a rumor MS did the same thing when they were stuffing the channel with 360 hardware?

legend166 said:
Hah, everyone hates retailers until Nintendo becomes involved, then they become the poor little beaten down retailers.
Click to expand...
I don't think it's that bad in this case.

Though I do remember that thread about Reggie saying he wanted to stop those Wii bundles because the consumer doesn't really want them and it hides the price advantage versus the competition. There were actually people in there criticizing that move :lol .
 
1

1-D_FTW

Member
This is the Nintendo that I hated intensely. I'm a huge Nintendo lover, but I had a spell where I was completely fed up with them. I remember when Gamefan was running rumors that Nintendo was gonna buy Atari and Jaguar was gonna be their next system. I was so mad, I vowed to sell my Jaguar the day it happened. This was the last period I ever had issues with Nintendo (I then learned to accept their practices.) But it's nice to see them back!
 
Z

ziran

Member
If true, harsh tactics!

But saying that, dropping the price before historically the key buying time for all Nintendo products was fucking retarded! :lol

SMG was clearly going to sell decently over the Japanese holidays, really obvious..., I suggest these retailers think about changing professions because they clearly don't know what they're doing ;)
 
D

Defuser

Member
So Nintendo punishing retailers for lowering the price because Nintendo didn't do a good job marketing & establishing SMG?
 
A

Alphahawk

Member
I thought retailers paid upfront for thier products, if so can anyone explain why Nintendo would have a problem with this?
 
J

jgwhiteus

Member
Alphahawk said:
I thought retailers paid upfront for thier products, if so can anyone explain why Nintendo would have a problem with this?
Click to expand...

Explained earlier in the thread, but one retailer price-dropping pressures other retailers to price-drop, which could lead to a general price collapse and affect consumer perception and demand for new shipments - as in, if Nintendo restocked, consumers would hold off on buying full price if they had just seen it selling at a reduced price a week earlier. Who knows. I'm sure most companies don't want their products to be price-dropped, but it's really not their choice if the product's not selling - it's just in this case, Nintendo is in a stronger position because the product actually did end up selling.

I think "punish" is a loaded term, as it carries some vindictive connotations with it. You could easily spin this story the other way and say, "Nintendo rewards retailers who had faith in products and maintained price integrity with more shipments". But that doesn't seem objective either. Seems similar to the DS/Wii allocation thing that came up earlier in the way people can spin it. I know Nintendo isn't above strong-arming tactics (didn't they pay a massive fine to the EU for price-fixing?), but it's hard to categorize this story one way or the other without details.
 
S

Sharp

Member
Why does every company have to be so arrogant? This, unlike the DS thing in the US, is really just spiteful and arrogant, and it's the sort of thing that made retailers and third-parties hate Nintendo in the first place.
 
Y

yankeeforever2

Member
Well I understand Nintendo mad that the retailers price collapsed when it would of still sold out at full price, but I rather actually hear this from more then one person before I believe it.
 
E

Evander

"industry expert"
IzumiK said:
Don't get it. Retailers buy from publishers so Nintendo already got the money. Why punish retailers for selling it for less?
Click to expand...

Because it affects the percieved value of the product.

The possible scenario goes like this:

If folks know that by waiting a couple of weeks on SMG they could get a big discount on it, they'll start expecting it on other Nintendo titles too.

This will force retailers to drop prices in the waythat consumers expect, because otherwise they will be unable to sell to these expectant consumers.

Ultimately, this could contribute to both a decline in sales of Nintendo titles and/or retailers demanding that Nintendo lower their wholesale prices, because they are no longer recieving a proper profit margin on the new titles at the discounted prices.



There is a reson for MSRP. Retailers shouldn't expect to be able to do this sort of devaluation without the producing company reacting. Nintendo is in a position where their product will sell no matter who they send it to, so pulling stock from one store and sending it to a different one doesn't hurt them at all.
 
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