My wife has a slight addiction to Target. It really is not her fault, as it is really the only general department store we can shop since we are still on our self-imposed boycott of Wal-Mart stores. Most of our purchases are simple household items intended to make our still mostly empty apartment more home-like.
If it were not for all of the current renovations at the Rivergate store, I could probably visualize exactly where most products would be in the store. It also means that I tend to notice things. For example, on our visits I often to wander off to the electronics department to see the exact same stuff I had perused the the day or two prior. I take notice of what stock is selling, and what collects dust. The Sony PlayStation 3 shelf, for example, always seems to have the exact same number of units on hand. The Nintendo Wii shelf, on the other hand, would always be empty.
There have been countless news stories and analysis as to why this is the case. The PlayStation 3 clocked in at right around $600 for its 60 GB version (now the only one available) while the Wii was less than half of that at $249.99. The last known sales figures from the last quarter put the Wii with 6.8 million units sold, while the PlayStation 3 has come in with 3.2 million. Not being a proper video console connoisseur, I would wager most Americans go for the price.
Today, something strange happened, and I stood there for a moment puzzled. For weeks, I had walked past those two cases to reaffirm my marketing hypothesis. Today, there were five Wii boxes sitting in the case. I did not hassle the sales clerk about it, because I figured it simply meant a new shipment had arrived that morning. A little intel from a relative of one of our coworkers had already revealed that this particular store receives its weekly allotment on Sunday, with a small gathering typically already lined up to grab one. The crowd must have slept in today.
I found and told Samantha, who had a reaction that was even more puzzling. "Get it. Now." She had just returned from a trade show where one demoed and given away as a door prize by her company, so she was my resident expert. I would later find out that she had perhaps spent a good bit of time "practicing," as evidenced by her Tennis score compared to mine. We walked swiftly back to the department and to the case. Either my initial count was wrong, or two had already been sold in that short absence. At least one had, because we met the guy who was buying it.
We grabbed ours with little fan-fare, although the store clerk was very quick to tell us for security reasons he could not let us hang on to it until the purchase was complete. We also picked up an extra controller and Super Paper Mario to go along with the packaged version of Wii Sports and started to head out for the door. The guy behind us, joined now by his wife and infant waited to check out. "Should we go back and get the other two?," he asked his wife.
I said that "it would be a sound investment."