Looks like Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) may be facing the short end of the consumer stick soon, as Consumerist reports. Customers in the New Jersey area apparently found out that some Best Buy employees were egging more sales of the Nintendo Wii by performing some amateur theatrics in those retail aisles. If the below is true, Best Buy will be taking a small PR hit here.Specifically, the old "this is the last one" tactic was being used to goad more consumers to buy (and not 'think about' buying) the Nintendo Wii console as the holiday shopping season continues into mid-November. After all, with the Wii so hot in the news regarding shortages, would s Best Buy employee telling you that "this is the last one" make you buy the 'last' remaining box on the shelf? Sure it would.
The only thing is that as soon as customers left the store, that empty Wii spot was being replenished with another unit -- there was no "out of stock" situation happening there. In this case, Best Buy employees were roaming the public aisles every so often, stating that the Wii perched on top of their head was the "last unit." Later on, the tactic was used again and again. Is this good marketing or a snake-oil way to sell a gaming console as much as possible?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-15-2007 @ 9:54AM
Amagod121 said...
Come to think of it, this tactic was used on me again and again at the game store that my son used to frequent. Hope that someone nabs those folks too.
11-15-2007 @ 10:38PM
jmc said...
I'd call that fraud, but I guess I'm old fashioned....
11-19-2007 @ 6:04PM
MikeDC said...
Are you kidding me??? The Nintendo Wii sells out at every Best Buy location that I call (about 10 in my area) the same day they get delivered. No tricks need to be performed to make them disappear.
My advice do some better research. If word got out the Best Buy had Wiis available it would actually be a fantastic PR push!