How to Sell a Wii U

NintendoDude writes: "I walked into GameStop the other day to spend a few minutes browsing while my wife was doing some shopping around the mall. In the course of a few short minutes, I overheard three distinct viewpoints that showcase precisely why the Wii U isn’t such a hot commodity in America. When the Wii U was first announced at E3 2011, Nintendo made bold claims that the Wii U was for everybody. It’s made for me, and it’s made for you.

But it clearly wasn't made for these people..."

[Neonridr]

Actually several of these so called "problems" could have been rectified if the clerk knew their own stuff. You have to cater to the customer. If I am buying some Wii U stuff, why would you be asking me to preorder games that aren't coming to the Wii U? I don't know about Gamestop's in the US, but at EB Games and Best Buy / Future Shop up here in Canada there are demo kiosks with the Wii U console and controller for little kiddies to play. If that doesn't make it plainly obvious that it's a new console, then a display sign won't either..

I do agree that Nintendo dropped the ball when it came to advertising and marketing the system leading up to the release, but it's not hard to do a little research nowadays online.

I do agree about the whole throwing their weight around a little bit. I am sure with a little bit of money they could have gotten Crysis 3 or Battlefield 3/4 onto the system..

[PopRocks359]

Obviously the Wii U is not perfect, but it has perks, particularly if you were a general consumer who owned a Wii.

"Why would I want to buy the 'new Wii' for my kid?"

"It plays your old Wii games, it has new games with better graphics, it supports multiple accounts for if you have more than one user, it has games kids and adults would like, etc."

Nintendo's advertising has been pretty bad. I haven't seen so much as a single TV/online commercial for the thing whereas with the Wii, the marketing was damn near everywhere. I'm all for letting Nintendo make their own decisions in the market, but some of them are just odd.

EDIT: In future models they should include a Non-Specific Action Figure.

[fei-hung]

Sheep is the reason why.

The world generally works like sheep's and shepards. If product "x" is supposed to be awesome, they will learn about it, know about it, market it and glorify it as the second coming, but if it doomed and rubbish because someone said so, they won't bother make any effort whatsoever.

I remember Game staff in Leicester doing this with the PS3 when SF4 launched. They kept telling people to buy it on the 360 as it ws a much better game and the PS3 was not worth it.

I remember this last gen when no one spoke of the superior capabilities of the Dreamcast and Xbox compared to the PS2.

Someone somewhere has decided the WiiU is not so great and until this general consensus changes, these people will keep treating it as a "meh" console.

It happens with consoles, with smartphones and politics.

[Nilemonitors13]

After this E3 it'll feel like a re-release for the WiiU, there's bound to be some surprises. It'll come back to life, im going to buy one after the Ps4, then i'll have the best of both worlds.

[potenquatro]

The notion that "the Wii U is actually pretty awesome" is starting to build. I thought the Wii was bad gimicks and all it took was a couple minutes with the Wii U to win me over. I get the feeling that everybody that is actually familiar with the product agrees

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

Non-Specific Action Figure

Needs a game. (Even if a small budget e-Shop).

[N4g_null]

Seriously it has $.35 cent games that will take ages to beat!

Wii fit u should sell it to those people. Nintendoland should be in the demo really.

[Nilemonitors13]

Shut up homie ^^

[dungeonboss]

I agree that GameStop could definitely do a better job explaining the machine to their own customers.

As an example, GameStop did not even offer an "interest list" to poll interest in the Wii U before it launched. The only reason 34% of GS customers have subscribed to a "PS4 interest list" is because it's forced on them every time they walk into the store. They've asked me like 4 times now, and I finally subscribed to the PS4 interest list, even though I have no intention of buying a PS4 for at least a few years.

If a customer asks if a Wii U game is for the Wii, the clerk should do the whole "suggestive selling" thing. But, they get paid close to or at minimum wage, so you can't really expect a GS employee to go above and beyond, and most are only familiar with Xbox 360 and PS3 so those are easier to explain and sell.

One of my local GameStops asks every time I walk in: "oh, you have a Wii U? Are they fun?", I'm like, "why don't you play the demo kiosk over there for yourself". All I get back is "good point", and they proceed to ask the same question a week later.

[imXify]

Nintendo went stupid and the customer make mistakes.

One time a 15 year old boy bought Black Ops 2 on WiiU and was crying on the CoD forums for 2 days because the game wasn't working on his "original wii". DUH.

He returned the game, explained his situation and got the PS3 version instead.

Another Wii U lost for Nintendo :D

[Jek_Porkins]

I've never understood why people think Wii and Wii U is too difficult for the average gamer to understand, but a PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4 or Xbox 360/Xbox 720 aren't confusing to kids or parents?

I think that kids will ask for the newer consoles and the parent will say "You already have a _________". I don't think it's just a problem with the Wii U. I think in a while when they stop support of the standard Wii, we will see a lot less confusion.

[Neonridr]

I think it's a little more concrete with the Playstation by adding a number next to it (2, 3, 4). Had this system been called the Wii 2, I don't think it would have been as confusing.

[N4g_null]

Great points. Yet the price of the other two may just advertise the wiiu for them.

What is interesting is nintendo may just drop a lot more once the others show their cards. Imagine, mkart, 3d Mario, bayo2, 101, etc all being on sell as the ps4 launches. Then the price being significantly lower.

Now ms could play the ms word card lol and add a printer to their console and va la you have an argument for a jr pc/console that is actually useful.

[Neonridr]

I totally think that Nintendo could be in great shape this holiday season.

Look we all know that the PS4 is going to be awesome, no doubting that. But with only about 1 million units of hardware available at launch (typical launch numbers of the past few console launches), those units will be gone long before xmas, leaving buyers with two options: Waiting for more stock, or purchasing a Wii U instead.

If Nintendo can have some quality software available in addition to the lower price point, it could get interesting..

[Y_5150]

If they package the Non-Specific Action Figure with the Wii U, it'll boost it's success! :P

[strigoi814]

One..if only nintendo name this machine like "hotcake" consumers will know that this is a brand new console and not an add on accessory..

Two..dont blame gamestop for not explaining it to consumers what the hell it is differ to the wii, nintendo should do their job to present it well to their market

Three...the writer address the wii U controller is the best ever made. Hmm doubt that

[dungeonboss]

At the same time, I'm sure GameStop likes money and they like staying in business.

Selling consoles to sell games seems like it *might* be a part of that.... if a console isn't doing well, that potentially means a huge chunk of the market is no longer stopping inside of GameStop (and arguably the same chunk that bought Just Dance, Rock Band, and Call of Duty on the Wii in droves - look at sales numbers for those games on Wii...)

[R00bot]

Just give out free non specific action figures with every purchase. I don't know about you, but that'd make me want one.

[Amigaengine]

Just got home from trading mine for a Alienware PC :)