DX
12-02-2005, 01:32 PM
Got this from TXB forums:
I've been lurking for awhile and after reading some of the posts on this forum I decided to register and share what info I have in the hopes that it will set some of you straight on the 360 snafu. My brother is a Store Manager for Best Buy and he's been sharing with me (some what candidly) the regular info that he's been obtaining from higher up. Since launch he's been raising hell with his DM about not having any 360's to give to customers who want to buy one and not having any info to tell them when they can't. He has been instructed to tell his employees to give a standard answer of "we will get another shipment before christmas" to all customers who inquire about the availability of a 360. The reason for that is strict rules against employees telling customers incorrect information. Also they don't really know, he doesn't even know until a day or 2 before when he will get any in and they are usually drop shipped to his store. They could come in at any time and are usually held until the next day's opening. Also, some Best Buys (including his) handed out more vouchers than they ended up having systems for on launch day. My brother's store got in 4 Premium Systems on Tuesday and they each went to a customer who had a voucher from launch day, they never even saw the store shelf.
I asked him the other day about the "rumor" that BB is hording 360's for a big sale in the middle of the month. To his knowledge this is not happening and he does know for a fact that HIS BB is not hording 360's in the back at all and finds it hard to believe that any BB store would do that for obvious reasons. You run the risk of theft, you run the risk of having an employee who's not with the program going back and getting one for a customer, and you run the risk of an employee grabbing one for a "buddy". In both cases if that happens, another customer see's one customer buying a 360 and all hell breaks loose. He does not know however if the company itself is hording 360's somewhere in a warehouse, if it is he is not being told about it. He also added that it is the christmas season, competition between chains is fierce and BB typically runs an ad in the paper each week. It wouldn't completely suprise him if he gets a ton of 360's one friday or saturday to be put on shelves for the Sunday ad. He says that has happened with other products in the past but nothing this popular.
Estimates in the retail chains state that MS only launched with around 300k available units on launch day. Far less than original estimates. The rumor among his management channels and some info he is hearing from higher ups supports this is that MS is intentionally shorting the supply to each territory (US, EU, JA) until all 3 launches are over with. MS fears that they will send too many units to one territory and not enough to another so they want to gauge interest before sending out the bulk of their stock. They already knew that 360 would be huge in US. However the question mark is EU & JA. They are huge right now on staking a claim in JA and don't want to miss the opportunity to do so because they don't have enough units to send over there. The japanese are very finicky consumers and don't like to wait for anything. They love new gadgets. So in short, the rumor is that we are suffering right now in favor of seeing what the japanese interest in the 360 will be. With that said my brother has stated that he has been informed by his DM that MS IS sending out regular shipments of 360's each week but that stock is very short. His store is #2 in his district & he can expect between 5-10 units a week as supply dictates. If the rumor that MS is waiting to send out the bulk of their stock is true then that would fit in with the rumor of the "big shipment" before christmas that some stores are stating to people. Could pan out that way.
In retail business everything is broken up by district & region. In those areas stores are ranked by a number of factors, sales, population around the store, etc... These posts that go something like "if my Target is getting some in that means all are" couldn't be more assuming or errored logic. With any product, companies track how well that product sells in their stores individually. Stores that it sells well at will get more of it than others. With the 360, its gonna sell out in any store it is stocked in so, that won't come into play. What will come into play however is the tried and true method of you send more stock out to the higher revenue, higher population stores. So...if your store does get some in don't assume the store a couple miles away will too. More than likely it won't. Stores are like trees, if there's a big one in one place, they're usually isn't a big one right next to it too. They need room to grow and feed off of the area around them. If you want a tip, go into a chain store and ask them what the #1 ranked store is in their district. You probably will get a strange look but if they don't have specific instructions not to share that info with you, they'll probably tell you (if they even know). Then scout that store out for a 360 because more than likely they will get any in before other stores in that district. However keep in mind that some stores were shorted on launch day and need to be caught up and they will get some in as well and that will supercede rankings or the like.
Another thing...calling stores. Calling stores makes sense given the price of gas and the time it takes to drive around only to come home empty handed. However, take what you hear over the phone with a grain of salt. You may get someone who knows nothing about the 360 or really doesn't care and just doesn't like being on the phone with you. Or you may get someone who does know what they're talking about. For every retail employee who genuinely cares about customer service and doing their job, there's 3 others who just want to put in their shift and get paid. Thats why when you go into same stores a lot you see different faces and a few that stay the same. It's high turnover. Because the 360 is a hot product, not every employee in a store or a section is gonna know the status of its availibility. Stores have to worry about employee theft around christmas time, even more so with a very popular product that is getting marked up 50-80% on EBay right now. Also employee's tend to not just work in one section of the store, they move to whatever section needs them on a given night. A good store, say the #1 in the district, is gonna find a few employees that are really good in a given area and keep them there because the increas in sales will reflect that. These are the faces that don't change when you go into the same store over a period of time. So...with that said you're best bet is to go to a store. The time you go is a toss up, some stores put out new stock before opening, some put it out later in the morning or day. Its individual to the store, it depends on how busy the store is and the employees are. My brother's BB for instance doesn't have a "stock crew". The employees in each section put up stock as they get time, most goes up before opening, the rest during the day as they find time to do it. If you go in and don't see any on the shelf don't just leave. Watch the employees in the electronics/games section for a little while and you will probably be able to figure out which one really "runs the show" and which ones are just floaters. And it might not even be a manager. You want to find the employee that is a regular in that section as they will probably know whats going on if anyone does. Ask that person, very nicely, if they have any in stock and if not if they have an idea when they will get some in. Also ask if you can leave your name & number with them. Be sure to thank them afterwards regardless. You would be suprised what being nice will get you.
Another thing...THERE IS NO RECALL! MS evidently is very pissed over this rumor and BB has sent out a directive to each store to inform its employees not to help spread this rumor. There is no recall. Period.
So anyways, this is info that I thought I would post. If you don't believe it, then don't I'm just trying to help. As I hear more I'll post it if I feel that it is relevant. I feel for you guys that don't have a 360 yet, sorry I don't have specifics or a tried and true strategy to get one. It's just gonna be luck of the draw really, right place right time to snag one I'm afraid.
I've been lurking for awhile and after reading some of the posts on this forum I decided to register and share what info I have in the hopes that it will set some of you straight on the 360 snafu. My brother is a Store Manager for Best Buy and he's been sharing with me (some what candidly) the regular info that he's been obtaining from higher up. Since launch he's been raising hell with his DM about not having any 360's to give to customers who want to buy one and not having any info to tell them when they can't. He has been instructed to tell his employees to give a standard answer of "we will get another shipment before christmas" to all customers who inquire about the availability of a 360. The reason for that is strict rules against employees telling customers incorrect information. Also they don't really know, he doesn't even know until a day or 2 before when he will get any in and they are usually drop shipped to his store. They could come in at any time and are usually held until the next day's opening. Also, some Best Buys (including his) handed out more vouchers than they ended up having systems for on launch day. My brother's store got in 4 Premium Systems on Tuesday and they each went to a customer who had a voucher from launch day, they never even saw the store shelf.
I asked him the other day about the "rumor" that BB is hording 360's for a big sale in the middle of the month. To his knowledge this is not happening and he does know for a fact that HIS BB is not hording 360's in the back at all and finds it hard to believe that any BB store would do that for obvious reasons. You run the risk of theft, you run the risk of having an employee who's not with the program going back and getting one for a customer, and you run the risk of an employee grabbing one for a "buddy". In both cases if that happens, another customer see's one customer buying a 360 and all hell breaks loose. He does not know however if the company itself is hording 360's somewhere in a warehouse, if it is he is not being told about it. He also added that it is the christmas season, competition between chains is fierce and BB typically runs an ad in the paper each week. It wouldn't completely suprise him if he gets a ton of 360's one friday or saturday to be put on shelves for the Sunday ad. He says that has happened with other products in the past but nothing this popular.
Estimates in the retail chains state that MS only launched with around 300k available units on launch day. Far less than original estimates. The rumor among his management channels and some info he is hearing from higher ups supports this is that MS is intentionally shorting the supply to each territory (US, EU, JA) until all 3 launches are over with. MS fears that they will send too many units to one territory and not enough to another so they want to gauge interest before sending out the bulk of their stock. They already knew that 360 would be huge in US. However the question mark is EU & JA. They are huge right now on staking a claim in JA and don't want to miss the opportunity to do so because they don't have enough units to send over there. The japanese are very finicky consumers and don't like to wait for anything. They love new gadgets. So in short, the rumor is that we are suffering right now in favor of seeing what the japanese interest in the 360 will be. With that said my brother has stated that he has been informed by his DM that MS IS sending out regular shipments of 360's each week but that stock is very short. His store is #2 in his district & he can expect between 5-10 units a week as supply dictates. If the rumor that MS is waiting to send out the bulk of their stock is true then that would fit in with the rumor of the "big shipment" before christmas that some stores are stating to people. Could pan out that way.
In retail business everything is broken up by district & region. In those areas stores are ranked by a number of factors, sales, population around the store, etc... These posts that go something like "if my Target is getting some in that means all are" couldn't be more assuming or errored logic. With any product, companies track how well that product sells in their stores individually. Stores that it sells well at will get more of it than others. With the 360, its gonna sell out in any store it is stocked in so, that won't come into play. What will come into play however is the tried and true method of you send more stock out to the higher revenue, higher population stores. So...if your store does get some in don't assume the store a couple miles away will too. More than likely it won't. Stores are like trees, if there's a big one in one place, they're usually isn't a big one right next to it too. They need room to grow and feed off of the area around them. If you want a tip, go into a chain store and ask them what the #1 ranked store is in their district. You probably will get a strange look but if they don't have specific instructions not to share that info with you, they'll probably tell you (if they even know). Then scout that store out for a 360 because more than likely they will get any in before other stores in that district. However keep in mind that some stores were shorted on launch day and need to be caught up and they will get some in as well and that will supercede rankings or the like.
Another thing...calling stores. Calling stores makes sense given the price of gas and the time it takes to drive around only to come home empty handed. However, take what you hear over the phone with a grain of salt. You may get someone who knows nothing about the 360 or really doesn't care and just doesn't like being on the phone with you. Or you may get someone who does know what they're talking about. For every retail employee who genuinely cares about customer service and doing their job, there's 3 others who just want to put in their shift and get paid. Thats why when you go into same stores a lot you see different faces and a few that stay the same. It's high turnover. Because the 360 is a hot product, not every employee in a store or a section is gonna know the status of its availibility. Stores have to worry about employee theft around christmas time, even more so with a very popular product that is getting marked up 50-80% on EBay right now. Also employee's tend to not just work in one section of the store, they move to whatever section needs them on a given night. A good store, say the #1 in the district, is gonna find a few employees that are really good in a given area and keep them there because the increas in sales will reflect that. These are the faces that don't change when you go into the same store over a period of time. So...with that said you're best bet is to go to a store. The time you go is a toss up, some stores put out new stock before opening, some put it out later in the morning or day. Its individual to the store, it depends on how busy the store is and the employees are. My brother's BB for instance doesn't have a "stock crew". The employees in each section put up stock as they get time, most goes up before opening, the rest during the day as they find time to do it. If you go in and don't see any on the shelf don't just leave. Watch the employees in the electronics/games section for a little while and you will probably be able to figure out which one really "runs the show" and which ones are just floaters. And it might not even be a manager. You want to find the employee that is a regular in that section as they will probably know whats going on if anyone does. Ask that person, very nicely, if they have any in stock and if not if they have an idea when they will get some in. Also ask if you can leave your name & number with them. Be sure to thank them afterwards regardless. You would be suprised what being nice will get you.
Another thing...THERE IS NO RECALL! MS evidently is very pissed over this rumor and BB has sent out a directive to each store to inform its employees not to help spread this rumor. There is no recall. Period.
So anyways, this is info that I thought I would post. If you don't believe it, then don't I'm just trying to help. As I hear more I'll post it if I feel that it is relevant. I feel for you guys that don't have a 360 yet, sorry I don't have specifics or a tried and true strategy to get one. It's just gonna be luck of the draw really, right place right time to snag one I'm afraid.