Shake it with the Wii Fit, if you can find one

Yes, the Wii Fit is proving as difficult to find as a Wii console, and people are paying jacked-up prices for them. But the surprising thing is, the crappy U.S. economy may have something to do with it. The Los Angeles Times reports that Nintendo is aiming to maximize profits by shipping more units to Europe than the U.S. (2 million, vs. 500,000) to take advantage of the euro, which is kicking the U.S. dollar’s wiggly booty. They’re walking a fine line, hoping U.S. consumers won’t get frustrated trying to find the product and move on. (My Wii already sits mostly idle, but that’s due to Nintendo being conservative about game development.) For Nintendo, this is a fresh new approach to making product scarce. Last time, they did it with a Grand Effie-winning ad campaign from Leo Burnett, tagged “Wii would like to play,” which has kept the Wii sold out since its launch. And in any case, there are worse things for a company than demand for its products exceeding supply. As an analyst tells the L.A. Times, when more Wii Fit units come online in a few months, “They know that Americans will be just as fat.”

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

June 16, 2008 in Cullers | Permalink