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[ggx2ac]

More at the link: http://asia.nikkei.com/Japan-Update/Nintendo-makes-investors-rich-little-boys-cry

I'll skip most financial figures in the article since we already have threads on that.
____

With Japanese retailers using lotteries/raffles to give people the chance to buy a Switch, this couple brought their 3-year old daughter with them to increase the odds.

Major electronics retailers in Japan have been managing the shortage by handing out raffle tickets to potential buyers.

"My husband wanted one so badly that he made me line up with him two weekends in a row," said a 28-year-old accounting consultant in Tokyo. "We even brought our 3-year-old daughter [to increase our odds of winning one]."

People in Japan have been scammed buying a Switch box [empty] for the price of a Switch because they didn't read the description.

Fans are so desperate for a Switch that scammers were found using a popular flea market app to play an empty box trick. Their postings make it look as though a buyer can expect a console and multiple game titles for slightly above the Switch's suggested retail price of 29,980 yen, excluding taxes. The listings actually mentioned "box only," but the words could have been easily missed in the long description.

One scammer tricked a boy on Twitter by trading a Switch for online gift cards. He lost a year's worth of allowances.

Scammers are also taking to Twitter, saying they'll trade Switch consoles for online gift cards. A middle school student said he lost almost a year's worth of allowances by falling for this ploy. He tweeted about being victimized, and a soft-hearted tweep responded by offering to give the kid a secondhand Switch.

But the boy then received a Switch from a good Samaritan however, he received flak for getting the Switch from a scalper.

But even this act of kindness opened a can of worms. The student ended up receiving a brand new console, which the good Samaritan later revealed had been bought from an online auction site. Switch consoles are trading for at least 10,000 yen above suggested retail price on these sites. The story's hero ended up taking some online flak.

Japanese society blames scalpers and their customers for giving the resale market a bad name.

Nintendo apologises for the global shortages.

Nintendo was quoted saying, "Do my best!"

In Japan, resale markets have a bad name. Not only are scalpers looked down on for cornering the market for hot items, their customers are blamed for letting these markets flourish.

Put it down to Nintendo's failure to meet demand. In late June, the company issued an apology and a promise to ramp up production. "We are aware that shortages are ongoing globally. We are doing our best" to deliver consoles, a Nintendo spokesman said.

Details of what Nintendo's targets are and how they aim to reach them.

Now buoyed by the Switch, Nintendo is targeting a consolidated operating profit of 65 billion yen for the current fiscal year, a 120% increase over the year earlier figure. Consolidated revenue is expected to rise 53% to 750 billion yen, which would return the company to revenue growth for the first time in nine years.

To meet the target, Nintendo told suppliers and assemblers to increase Switch production to at least 18 million units in the year ending March 2018, the Financial times reported in late May. This goal, the FT said, reflects fears of "customer tantrums."

Masahiro Ono, analyst at Morgan Stanley thinks the supply problems have not led to immediate lost sales opportunities because of strong software lineups from Nintendo.

However, he cautioned that Nintendo would still have trouble meeting demand due to the tight supply of NAND flash memory chips.

Masahiro Ono, an analyst at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, said the supply problems have not led to immediate lost sales opportunities, largely thanks to the company's strategy of offering major blockbuster titles early on.

"Nintendo fans are waiting to get their hands on the major titles," he said. "Even if the console is shipped late, these people are most certainly buying them."

Still, Ono cautioned that Nintendo will have a hard time meeting demand. Supplies of Switch's key components, such as flash memory chips, he said, "remain quite tight."

 

[Mediking]

Sounds like these NAND memory chips that Nintendo is fighting for is like drugs in the tech world.

Supply...

Demand.

 

[fabricated backlash]

Fear of customer tantrums? They do read GAF after all.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Nintendo was quoted saying, "Do my best!"

!

 

[Bowl0l]

Easiest way is for Nintendo Japan to take away stock from Maxsoft. I bet they are not selling well due to Maxsoft's awesome pricing strategy.

 

[Zedark]

Easiest way is for Nintendo Japan to take away stock from Maxsoft. I bet they are not selling well due to Maxsoft's awesome pricing strategy.

... Those are exceedingly tiny markets, though. They won't help relieve stock issues by any noticeable amount.

 

[Giga Man]

!

Literally my first thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCOQBR_deUg

 

[Bowl0l]

... Those are exceedingly tiny markets, though. They won't help relieve stock issues by any noticeable amount.

Better than holding lotteries.
If Maxsoft can't sell, stop giving stock to them at the moment.
i meant to say that they should direct the stock to Japan.

 

[Machina]

Sounds like these NAND memory chips that Nintendo is fighting for is like drugs in the tech world.

Supply...

Demand.

How long is it gonna take before someone in the IT sector realizes this problem is becoming untenable?

 

[Easy_D]

Sounds like these NAND memory chips that Nintendo is fighting for is like drugs in the tech world.

Supply...

Demand.

The NAND must flow

 

[kagamin]

!

I was thinking more of Uzuki here:

 

[Orcastar]

This seems completely absurd when at the same time there have been stacks of Switches at every retailer here in Finland since launch. I could walk into any local electronics store right now and buy one.

 

[ranmafan]

It really is crazy how it's been going for people trying to buy a switch here in Japan. Heck people have forgotten but it's still the same situation for PSVR as well here too, still have to get it through lottery unless you're really lucky. And that things been out far longer than the switch. It's crazy when you go to a store and see so many copies of switch games yet it's like a tease since getting one is practically impossible without insane luck or going through a scalper. I'm glad I'm waiting until next year as I went through that hassle getting a psvr, which I'm very glad I did and have no regrets doing, but I don't want to go through that hassle again for a switch. But yeah it seems like more and more things like this are getting so hard to buy here in japan these days. I hate these lotteries.

 

[Chû Totoro]

This seems completely absurd when at the same time there have been stacks of Switches at every retailer here in Finland since launch. I could walk into any local electronics store right now and buy one.

Don't worry you probably won't have restock so the 10k units standing here can stay since they wouldn't change anything in Japan.

 

[Ninferno]

This seems completely absurd when at the same time there have been stacks of Switches at every retailer here in Finland since launch. I could walk into any local electronics store right now and buy one.

This just shows how difficult it can be to gauge consumer interest. Sometimes, it just happens that nobody really knows for sure what sells and what does not, who will buy it and who will not.

 

[cw_sasuke]

This seems completely absurd when at the same time there have been stacks of Switches at every retailer here in Finland since launch. I could walk into any local electronics store right now and buy one.

Thats a very small market compared to the US, JPN, UK, France, Germany etc. - 10k console are probably enough stock for months in Finland.

 

[kitsuneyo]

This seems completely absurd when at the same time there have been stacks of Switches at every retailer here in Finland since launch. I could walk into any local electronics store right now and buy one.

I imagine Finnish people are outside enjoying real life in their beautiful country.

 

[Maintenance]

 

 

[Mafro]

Thought the thread title was a reference to the salt on here whenever something Nintendo-related sells well.

 

[TheJoRu]

This seems completely absurd when at the same time there have been stacks of Switches at every retailer here in Finland since launch. I could walk into any local electronics store right now and buy one.

Same here in Sweden. Well, I haven't seen any stacks, but online retailers have plenty of Switches. Bergsala definitely ordered too many (and then retailers ordered too many from Bergsala) after the initial high demand where getting one at launch was legitimately difficult. It's also way overpriced here, which could explain why it's not flying off shelves.

 

[Mendrox]

Thats a very small market compared to the US, JPN, UK, France, Germany etc. - 10k console are probably enough stock for months in Finland.

You can also go into any shop in Germany and buy one right now. Saturn Hamburg had over 30 Switches instock yesterday and since last week it's avaiable at Amazon.de

 

[Maximo]

This seems completely absurd when at the same time there have been stacks of Switches at every retailer here in Finland since launch. I could walk into any local electronics store right now and buy one.

Same here in Australia feel bad for those that can't get a Switch no intention of buying one for a few years supply is just sitting on shelves here.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

This seems completely absurd when at the same time there have been stacks of Switches at every retailer here in Finland since launch. I could walk into any local electronics store right now and buy one.

It's a problem with Nintendos projection of hardware sales and at the same time being fair to support all markets. For example I used to buy all my Amiibo in Hong Kong, never had a problem getting any one I wanted, lots of stock and reprints. The store owner told me that Japanese buyers would also go there to get them becuse they could not find certain Amiibo in Japan. Now I remember it I also,saw Nes and Famicom minis there.

 

[ggx2ac]

Nintendo's shares climbed very high after posting their better than expected quarterly results.

Share value closed at ¥35,770 on 26th July.

Share value opened at ¥37,310 on 27th July which then peaked at ¥38,520 before closing at ¥37,380 on that same day.

Today July 28th, shares have opened at ¥38,090.

The point is, during the 3DS/Wii U generation, share prices fell every time Nintendo fell below expectations so this is quite the turnaround for them.

 

[kyser73]

How long is it gonna take before someone in the IT sector realizes this problem is becoming untenable?

Untenable for whom?

In the global market for NAND memory Nintendo are behind the likes of HP, Dell, Apple, anyone who offers cloud/data centre hardware, EMC2...the list of enterprise customers whose purchasing power exceeds Nintendo's is very long and besides, high demand = high margins for manufacturers, which isn't something they'll want to give up in a hurry.