This article was written on November 14, 2007 by CyberNet.
If you walked into a Best Buy store to browse one day and you happened to see an employee carrying a Wii above their head and proclaiming “The Last Wii!”, you might be intrigued to buy it, right? We all know that the Wii has been a rather hot commodity over the last year, and they continue to be short on supply with the current demand. Even if you had no intention of buying a system when you walked in (or you already own one), seeing it and hearing that it’s the very-last-one would be enough for anybody’s ears to perk up. You could sell it on eBay, give it to your kids, or keep it for yourself, the possibilities — endless! A Best Buy in New Jersey knows this, and so they’ve been selling “The Very Last Wii” over, and over, and over again. I’d call this a sleazy sales tactic, but one that obviously works. The story goes like this:
Saturday morning (11/10) I witnessed some amazing sleaziness over at the Princeton,NJ Best Buy. I was standing near the back of the store when one of their salespeople came strolling from a back door holding a Nintendo Wii over his head, and started walking the aisles announcing that it was their last unit. I followed, wondering both how quickly would it get snatched up and how quickly could I decide if I wanted to buy it. It took a few minutes for a couple to come rushing up to claim it, exclaiming how happy their kids were going to be. I went back to looking around the store. About 30 minutes later, I heard this announcement on the store’s PA: “Attention Best Buy customers! Julie is now walking through the store with our last Nintendo Wii! If you’re looking for a Nintendo Wii, please look for Julie!” And there was another salesperson doing the same thing as the first – walking the aisles of the store holding the Wii above her head.
I was now in the store solely to witness more of this sales technique. The second Wii took just over 15 minutes to sell – I overheard two manager-types (one in a suit, the other a yellow shirt) discussing it, the suit asking “Did Julie sell that Wii, yet? How long?” And then “Wait 40 minutes and send out the next one.” Too long for me to wait around, so I left (after stopping in at the store’s new Apple niche to set the a Macbook’s home page to the Best Buy tagged stories on Consumerist).
I suppose there’s nothing illegal or unexpected about this, but as some one tentatively in the market for a hard-to-find Wii I’m annoyed enough to swear off Best Buy this holiday season.
After reading that, I have a hard time believing that a Best Buy would feel that such a tactic were necessary! I mean, these things have been flying off the shelves on their own, without problems. Obviously we weren’t there to confirm whether or not this story is true, but it sounds like something a Best Buy would be capable of doing. If they were doing this with a Playstation 3, I’d be able to understand it a little more, but a Wii? Give me a break!
Source: The Consumerist
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