Support NeoGAF

[Neuromancer]

In this thread we learn that having stock to sell during the busy holiday shopping season is actually a bad thing. Every retailer near you going out of business soon.

You don't think having an excess of stock during the holidays or so soon afterwards could possibly be troubling?

 

[dead souls]

You don't think having an excess of stock during the holidays or so soon afterwards could possibly be troubling?

Yeah, I don't get why people are downplaying that.

Obviously nothing is conclusive until we see some sales numbers, but it seems like either Microsoft has a crazy amount of supply or people just aren't that interested in getting a One. MS better pray it isn't the latter, though I suspect that may be the case.

 

[hoos30]

You don't think having an excess of stock during the holidays or so soon afterwards could possibly be troubling?

Having poor sales in Dec or Jan NPD (see Wii U) would be troubling. Having consoles for little Johnny to buy with his gift card is probably wise.

Edit: I haven't seen an xb1 in store since early December...it would be just as silly for me to say OMG XBOX IZ BEST SELLING EVA. These snapshots are just that and don't mean anything unless we know the restock rate which we don't.

 

[ShadyJ]

Id say this was made up because they are sick of explaining the same crap over and over to people who haven't kept up

 

[dorkimoe]

they are just trying to sell them. they would do the same if they had ps4's in stock

they are also probably having a contest between stores to see who can sell the most

 

[makingmusic476]

Yeah, I don't get why people are downplaying that.

Obviously nothing is conclusive until we see some sales numbers, but it seems like either Microsoft has a crazy amount of supply or people just aren't that interested in getting a One. MS better pray it isn't the latter, though I suspect that may be the case.

I really don't get why some are so quick to rule out the possibility of slow sales. The Xbox is $499.

The ps3, the follow up to the best selling console of all time, stumbled out the gate at $499/599.

It took a price drop, a lot of games, and a whole lot of brand power to recover.

 

[NightBlade]

You also must remember that the PS4 is available in more countries then X1 as well

 

[Flying Toaster]

I really don't get why some are so quick to rule out the possibility of slow sales. The Xbox is $499.

The ps3, the follow up to the best selling console of all time, stumbled out the gate at $499/599.

It took a price drop, a lot of games, and a whole lot of brand power to recover.

Pretty much this. MS will be spending a lot of time to rebuild brand loyalty for those that are multi console owners. There are still the diehards that are purchasing Xbox Ones because they had a 360 but to catch the rest of the crowd there will be some work on MS's part.

 

[ultratruman]

I remember the same 'well isn't it a great there's so much unsold stock' defensive during the launch of a certain other console last year.

 

[CadetMahoney]

It's totally possible, that there are "fanboy" owners/managers.

this, and looks desperate too, trying to get rid of hard to move stock.

Another Game stop employee chiming in about the Bathroom thing, yes it's true. If you have limited space you store some merch in the bathroom. At our store only used systems and accessories go in the Bathroom and those are just the overstock we can't place on the sales floor.

As for new systems they go in a bathroom no one uses. Been tempted a few times to take a pic of our shipment for annecdotal purposes to use on gaf when we had a mountain of xbones around a shitter.

missed opportunity for a 50 page thread tbh.

 

[Teknoman]

that shitty little cheap fuckin sign leads me to believe that is a case of a store manager who happens to be a microsoft fanboy and is trying to take matters into his own hands. I can't imagine corporate sanctioned something that shitty.

Bingo. They always state that non-approved marketing materials cant be used (anything that isnt received in a marketing kit). Balloons and the like are ok though. Self made signs arent.

 

[cdwjustin]

Local gamestop has 25 xbone zero ps4.

 

[Teknoman]

I've seen a lot of Xboxes on shelves but not a single PS4 in Atlanta. Not sure what that means - is Sony just not restocking?

They are...just PS4 instasell as soon as received. All that bad publicity early on for Xbox One... not to mention the price difference. Thats probably why 360 got such a big lead last generation,

 

[DericLee]

Business attempts to sell products it has in stock.

News at 11.

 

[ANDS]

Why are people moaning about that sign. Local GS here does it as well. . .it helps if you have an artistic person on staff (they do) to make the signs cute (their mashup of COD:Ghosts and that weird Rabbit was good).

 

[hoos30]

I really don't get why some are so quick to rule out the possibility of slow sales. The Xbox is $499.

The ps3, the follow up to the best selling console of all time, stumbled out the gate at $499/599.

It took a price drop, a lot of games, and a whole lot of brand power to recover.

Because MS sold ~1m consoles in November and December sales are almost always greater? Anything is possible but the xb1 would have had to have had an amazing collapse to validate some of the posts here.

 

[Flying Toaster]

Bingo. They always state that non-approved marketing materials cant be used (anything that isnt received in a marketing kit). Balloons and the like are ok though. Self made signs arent.

There was a flyer being passed around at the gamestop closest to me on Saturday explaining the merits of the Xbox One.

I am not at Gamestop very often, do they publish things like this a lot?

 

[n00bsauce87]

PS4 needs no help selling itself....so the focus is on moving X1 inventory they may have.

That's what I gather the issue is. PS4 is the newer gaming console. There really isn't any need of explanation except you need PS+ to play online multiplayer. Only about 15-20% of new owners would need to hear that info (not scientific or researched numbers). But other than that, they will either buy it or not.

 

[PNut]

looks legit.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Business attempts to sell products it has in stock.

News at 11.

Surely you can see a difference between products on shelves (which is common and unremarkable) and a big center table with hand made flyers and corrections of common misunderstandings about a product. One appears more desperate than the other.

We don't have enough concrete information about anything to say it's because there's zero demand or anything like that, but I can say with great confidence that this has the *appearance* of desperation. It could be because of a true glut of stock with no demand, or it could be because this manager wants to sell this stock a lot and isn't giving much consideration to how it looks.

edit: if the comment I was replying to was actually more about the idea that this Gamestop is "teh bias" in favor of MS, I agree that there isn't clear evidence for that particular interpretation over others.

 

[SummitAve]

Of course there's a difference but it's still 11 o'clock who-gives-a-fuck news.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Of course there's a difference but it's still 11 o'clock who-gives-a-fuck news.

It suggests there are too many X1's in the channel and this is interesting to many people, as many, many threads over the last several weeks have demonstrated.

 

[Kintaro]

Surely you can see a difference between products on shelves (which is common and unremarkable) and a big center table with hand made flyers and corrections of common misunderstandings about a product. One appears more desperate than the other.

We don't have enough concrete information about anything to say it's because there's zero demand or anything like that, but I can say with great confidence that this has the *appearance* of desperation. It could be because of a true glut of stock with no demand, or it could be because this manager wants to sell this stock a lot and isn't giving much consideration to how it looks.

I do believe you're grasping at straws here. There are a great many customers who walk into GameStop everyday who believe that both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 play XB360 and PS3 games respectively. It is a nightmare educating consumers about these machines because they can't be bothered to look up the information on their expensive ass iphones/galaxy s3s. We still have customers who believe any PS3 will play PS2 games.

The more blunt you are about information, the better off you are.

Also, the handmade signs, balloons and tables are done throughout the year for a variety of events and reasons. If Sony would send out PS4s at the same clip MS sends Xbox Ones, they would be on the tables as well.

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

Why are there so many people in this thread that are so sure that the ONLY explanation for this is that Microsoft is stocking more than Sony. That lower demand could not possibly be a valid explanation. Also, why not both?

 

[TonkuySlon]

Why are there so many people in this thread that are so sure that the ONLY explanation for this is that Microsoft is stocking more than Sony. That lower demand could not possibly be a valid explanation. Also, why not both?

Look at the sales figures...It's not like PS4 sold 2mil and XOne 500k...Why are you so sure there is a lack of demand considering the sales numbers already public? Especially in the US.

 

[BlastProcessing]

Meanwhile, in Europe.

Hello? Xbox One, available for sale! Who are you to resist it huh? Come on my last paycheck bounced. My children need wine!

 

[ClearData]

Why are there so many people in this thread that are so sure that the ONLY explanation for this is that Microsoft is stocking more than Sony. That lower demand could not possibly be a valid explanation. Also, why not both?

Great points.

At a higher price point some people could just be making the decision not to buy an Xbone right now. This, coupled with Sony's pricing, hopefully puts pressure on Microsoft to drop the price sooner rather than later.

Also, what boggles my mind is if Microsoft is flooding the North American Market, why not direct all those unsold Xbones to territories that are still waiting for your console? I mean, hell, if you have X amount of unserved customers in another territory who would buy today then get them some consoles that aren't being bought over here.

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

Look at the sales figures...It's not like PS4 sold 2mil and XOne 500k...Why are you so sure there is a lack of demand considering the sales numbers already public? Especially in the US.

I'm not sure that's the thing. I don't presume anything. But isn't that the whole point? Both seem to be shipping a virtually even pace right now and yet one is sold out and the other one isn't.

What is the margin in the US? 50k? 100k? More? If there were 50k more PS4's being sent to the US would it be in plentiful stock like Xbox?

These are the questions I'm asking.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I do believe you're grasping at straws here. There are a great many customers who walk into GameStop everyday who believe that both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 play XB360 and PS3 games respectively. It is a nightmare educating consumers about these machines because they can't be bothered to look up the information on their expensive ass iphones/galaxy s3s. We still have customers who believe any PS3 will play PS2 games.

The more blunt you are about information, the better off you are.

Also, the handmade signs, balloons and tables are done throughout the year for a variety of events and reasons. If Sony would send out PS4s at the same clip MS sends Xbox Ones, they would be on the tables as well.

I'm not saying the information isn't useful to consumers. I'm saying a display like this conveys more meaning than may be intended. It suggests that they have lots of X1s and no PS4s, which at first blush suggests to the consumer that one is more desirable than the other, given the holiday context. These are automatic, intuitive judgments people will make, and unless they are corrected by more deliberate thinking, they will drive the conclusions consumers make. The average consumer isn't going to think about supply quantities or number of countries in which the product launched. They'll just see that one is sold out and one is being pushed extra hard. I tried to emphasize that it *appears* desperate because it is easily perceived that way. I also said it doesn't mean Gamestop is actually desperate.

If they had both PS4s and X1s I don't think there would be tables at all. The every-day setup of a Gamestop features console boxes prominently in windows and plenty of other signage. A special display with a pile of what is supposed to be the "hot item" this Christmas raises suspicion.

I don't think it's really a big deal, but I don't think I'm grasping at anything either.

 

[Darksol]

I would swear that this thread is full of nothing but people who work for retail stores. Funny how everyone seems to work for Gamestop around here too.

Thousands of active forum members who are video game enthusiasts...are you really salty enough to doubt that a few dozen members work at video game retail outlets?

 

[Dave Long]

So when NPD hits, will it be too early in the life of the One for Microsoft to talk about total sales of the "Xbox Brand" instead of giving accurate sales numbers?

 

[willskate4free]

Talked to the local gamestop guys here in my town.. this is what they told me - they are getting about the same number of units in (xbone and ps4) , but with the difference being they'll get a bunch of ps4s in at one time and the xbones come in a little every so often ... they said though that ps4s sell out as soon as they get them.. xbones will still be around when the next shipment comes in so they have ample (the stock they get in doesn't sell out).... take that for what its worth.

 

[Cth]

Any GS employees mind chiming in with how much each console ships?

During the holidays at TRU, we'd get 2-4 PS4 vs 10-20 XBO on average.

 

[Rich!]

Ex Blockbuster manager here.

All of our consoles were stored in the bathroom area, as it was the most secure area of the store - and we were short on space too.

 

[Pain]

Why are there so many people in this thread that are so sure that the ONLY explanation for this is that Microsoft is stocking more than Sony. That lower demand could not possibly be a valid explanation. Also, why not both?

Because that's what the data we have tells us. PS4s sell out quickly after being re-stocked. PS4 had bigger US and UK launch. It's higher on online best-seller charts and wish lists.

You'd have to be a fool to think there's low PS4 demand. There isn't.
Just last week PS4 went back in stock at Amazon. Shot straight to #1 and stayed there for about 3 days. Xbox One was in stock too and it between #10 and #20 at different points in time.

Clearly there is high PS4 demand. Higher than there is stock.

Because MS sold ~1m consoles in November and December sales are almost always greater? Anything is possible but the xb1 would have had to have had an amazing collapse to validate some of the posts here.

Don't be so sure. November sales included months and months of pre-orders. December sales coming in a few hundred thousand lower than November wouldn't surprise me. This goes for both consoles BTW.

 

[Parch]

Id say this was made up because they are sick of explaining the same crap over and over to people who haven't kept up

Yeah, pre-launch misinformation was ridiculous.

 

[REDRZA]

Europe got flooded with PS4's with "Made in Japan" on them, so that could be evidence that Sony has gotten more factories on track to pump them out, but we really don't know numbers so it's all speculation as to the speed each company can make the consoles.

Not true at all about being "flooded", in fact there was a thread about the PS4 EU launch and there were not a "flood" of "made in japan" PS4 consoles which was rumored. Fact is most of the people were showing evidence of "made in China" consoles.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Because that's what the data we have tells us. PS4s sell out quickly after being re-stocked. PS4 had bigger US and UK launch. It's higher on online best-seller charts and wish lists.

You'd have to be a fool to think there's low PS4 demand. There isn't.
Just last week PS4 went back in stock at Amazon. Shot straight to #1 and stayed there for about 3 days. Xbox One was in stock too and it between #10 and #20 at different points in time.

Clearly there is high PS4 demand. Higher than there is stock.

I think Style Fox was talking about people not accepting the possibility that there's lower demand for X1, and that they choose to believe it's definitely better supply causing the accumulation of X1s on shelves.

 

[iJudged]

Omg haha

 

[tfur]

Until this dog hits $199 - $250, they can continue to play markers and make signs. It's just not worth it for me, and not a compelling product.

I would imagine the lesser of global sales will continue to weaken the brand.

 

[ViciousDS]

wow, now thats just sad lol

 

[Cornbread78]

They are available everywhere and have been for a while. Even the days before X-Mas, Wal-mart was running "we have Xbox Ones in stock" commercials nonstop, and they did. PS4s were nowhere to be found but you could easily get an Xbox One consoles.

My local Wal-mart still has about 6 XB1s left from the last shipment we received before XMas.

 

[ViciousDS]

My local Wal-mart still has about 6 XB1s left from the last shipment we received before XMas.

My walmart still had a Day One edition on Crhistmas Eve at closing, it was really funny

 

[Superflat]

Stores need to sell units. If they're not getting rid of them, Gamestop needs to push dat shit. Doesn't really seem like bias.

I went to a Gamestop for the first time in what seems like forever this past week to pick up a Vita and some games. There was a guy who just walked in and out of the store, with an Xbox One. I was pretty surprised at how easy it seemed to get a XBox One at this time of year.

 

[-KRS-]

They're just trying to move stock and clear up consumer confusion.

Funny how they didn't do that with the Wii U...

 

[FranXico]

I'm tired of seeing people blaming supposedly "low sales" (which they aren't, the Xbox One is selling just fine) on "misinformation".

The "misinformation" is entirely Microsoft's fault, they have absolutely no right to play the victim after preparing to grab a market through anti-consumer policies.

Having said that, clarifying consumers is OK, but be honest about it. "The used game policies were removed" sends a far better, clearer and more honest message than the disingenuous "Get The Facts" campaign that is literally trying to erase consumer's memory of past May to August.

 

[IHaveCandy]

that shitty little cheap fuckin sign leads me to believe that is a case of a store manager who happens to be a microsoft fanboy and is trying to take matters into his own hands. I can't imagine corporate sanctioned something that shitty.

I'd guess it's more likely that they have a lot of Xbox Ones and are sold out of PS4s still. So you gotta push what you got, right? When sales goals need to be met, you don't care what people buy as long as they are buying.

 

[FranXico]

that shitty little cheap fuckin sign leads me to believe that is a case of a store manager who happens to be a microsoft fanboy and is trying to take matters into his own hands. I can't imagine corporate sanctioned something that shitty.

Fanboy or not, it is his job to sell his stock.

 

[Cornbread78]

My walmart still had a Day One edition on Crhistmas Eve at closing, it was really funny

Damn, layaway restock? That black box was pretty sexy..

 

[Matriox]

Fanboy or not, it is his job to sell his stock.

This may be so, however, as a manager he should know he cannot use advertising material outside of what was given to him. Granted he or she could have asked to make the sign because they were getting asked wayyy too much.