As we all know, both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 are in high demand. Stock is limited and retailers are battling over the next set of units. This means — that for stores like EB Games, JB Hi-Fi and Big W — pre-orders are all important. If they can prove demand is high at their store, they’ll get more consoles.
That’s why staff at Big W have been informed to try and sell pre-orders onto customers frustrated at the fact both consoles will most likely sell out quickly.
In a memo obtained by Kotaku, staff were clearly informed of the strategy.
“For each store, Day One Stock allocation has been calculated based on pre-orders,” it reads.
“Market demand has been extremely high on these products, Big W will be under allocation Day 1 and Xmas on both consoles.
“The shortage in the market will create some frustration among our customers,” read the memo. “This is an opportunity to remind them that Big W, unlike some of our competitors, has received a correct supply on the PS4 Xmas drop.”
“We cannot highlight enough the importance for for our customers to pre-order now their [sic] consoles for Xmas.”
It sounds devious but, in reality, it’s simply the words of a retailer attempting to run a business. It might seem a little unsavoury to take advantage of a shortage like this but maybe pre-ordering a console, when there is a legitimate shortage, is an advisable course of action. Still, it’s interesting to see behind the curtain, to get a glimpse at the methods retailers employ to part us from our hard-earned cash.
Comments
17 responses to “Big W Plans To Use Your Frustration To Increase Pre-Orders On Xbox One And PS4”
I’ve got mine pre-ordered from Big W and have no idea what shipment it’s part of. Fiendish.
Guess that depends on how early you preordered it, I’d give them a call and hope you get someone that knows what they’re on about, that’s what I’m gonna do.
My sister went to pre-order in store and they didn’t know what a PS4 was. XD
Lol I had a guy tell me that they came out at the start of August when I preordered mine, told me to come in when I think it’s meant to be released because he didn’t know..
It’ll be first-come first-served, whoever comes in with their pre-order will get one if they have one, regardless of when they pre-ordered.
to pre-order now their [sic] consoles for
That’s the right “their”, right? It definitely shouldn’t be “they’re” or “there”. So why the [sic]?
It should be “pre-order their consoles now” not “pre-order now their consoles”, unless Yoda dictated the message in which case I’ll stand corrected!
The whole sentence should have had [sic] at the end
I’d be more worried about the repetition of “for” earlier in the sentence 🙂
I just bought a X1 and went to a few stores. 3 big W stores only got 3 copies of Forza 5. Didn’t ask how much consoles, but only 1 left in 2 of the stores.
Isn’t this the same as a clerk at one of the specialist stores asking if you want to pre-order when you ask when ‘XYZ’ is due to be released?
I know for a fact that Big W North Lakes had 9 Xbox One consoles available and only sold the last one about 12. No pre orders had been put in at the store so demand there was minimal, mind you the mid night line at EB North Lakes was about 80 pre orders. Probably more.
Good lord 80!
I was at my EB today and could’ve walked out with an Xbone.
Yeah – they have plenty at Burwood EB as of 4.30. None at k-mart though.
I’m not sure why this would be considered devious. Big W aren’t exactly the place gamers think of first when they’re considering pre-ordering a console. If my local EB and JB were sold out, for example, I might just think to myself, “I’ll give Big W a go, no-one goes there”. And if the clerk behind the counter is a middle-aged lady with zero clue about games, I’d be more inclined to believe her when she says there’s stock left than a trendy, pushy employee of a specialist retailer, who doesn’t need memos to remind them about pre-ordering because it’s ingrained into the way they think when they approach someone for a sale.
Big W reminding their employees to push pre-orders is them reacting to the way Sony is allocating stocks, rather than taking advantage of gamer’s frustrations.
Big W is my go-to for games. Usually the cheapest.