sMoRTy71.com: Best Buy holding 360s

Best Buy holding 360s
According to a copy of Best Buy's The Retail Insider employee newsletter that I have, BB will be holding all of their XBOX 360s until December 18th.

BB claims that this approach is a good idea because it will "alleviate some of the problems encountered at launch" because "many stores sold all units on launch day and didn't have enough to cover the ad." They claim that setting a date will keep customers from getting confused as to when the 360 is available.

Hmm. Interesting theory. But you know what is going to happen? Everyone is going camp out (AGAIN!) and there will be all of the same launch day headaches where you have way more gamers than you have consoles.

A couple of times, in the Insider newsletter, BB warns employees to help eliminate "customer disappoints" and be "Customer Centric." IMHO, holding 360s for a second launch event is going to guarantee lots of "disappoints."

But maybe the "disappoints" talk is just lip service. Elsewhere in the newsletter, employees are shown stats about how successful the first launch day was in term of increasing their "hardware basket." Turns out it was twice the "traditional basket."

So it looks like BB is trying cash in again on the mania they observed at the original launch. In fact, the Insider says, "If there isn't enough inventory of XBOX 360, offer another format." BB claims that 360 and PSP sales will only be 20% of holiday gaming sales, so employees should move other product if (I love that they say "if") 360s run out.

I would rather see retailers get the consoles on the shelves as soon as they have them. The hardcore gamers, who will buy the most games (which is how MSFT will make money), are out pounding the pavement every day trying to find them in stock.

Shouldn't they be rewarded for their efforts by having stock replenished as soon as consoles are available? Apparently not, according to Best Buy. They're more concerned with their "hardware basket" than gaining a "customer for life" (which is something the Insider claims they need).

I wonder what MSFT thinks about their launch partner's approach. Peter Moore, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Global Publishing and Marketing, was on G4TV claiming that "retailers are trying to fulfill demand as fast as they possibly can."