UK retailers sell out of Switch - Stock levels a concern

A

axisofweevils

Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
UPDATE: MCV now has the article online http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/stro...ock-must-continue-to-flow-says-retail/0179949

From Nintendoeverything via MCV magazine. http://nintendoeverything.com/uk-retailers-sell-out-of-switch-units-stock-levels-a-concern/

HMV head of technology and games Phil Browes told MCV that Switch's launch was "fantastic". He also said:

"We satisfied all pre-orders and blasted through the remainder of our initial allocation. Every single one of our pre-order customers received their console on launch day, and we're optimistic that with some great games due to be released, Switch can establish itself as a successful third console in the market. We're a bit tight [on stock] but we're looking forward to more deliveries this week."

Being able to actually find Switch in stores is now a concern for retailers. For example, GameSeek managing director Stephen Staley mentioned that stocks levels are "zero". Because of this, he wasn't able to sell any more Switches over the weekend seeing how it "wasn't on sale."

One manager told MCV that they've yet to hear from Nintendo about when the next batch of consoles would arrive and might have to wait until April.

"We are in communications with Nintendo but there is not a confirmed date as of yet. With Mario Kart coming in April I would hope there would be more stock before then but that's not confirmed."
Click to expand...

Link to the actual magazine here. https://issuu.com/newbayeurope/docs/mcv911_march_10th
 
Hah, the timing of this amused me just because I know Argos got a shipment today and enough of a shipment to stock at least one unit in my backwater town and it's minuscule branch.

So if you're after one at RRP, might not be a bad place to start. The scalpers won't be pleased.
 
Demand seems high. This definitely was not the case with the WiiU. Good job Nintendo, demand will only increase with the drip feed of quality titles throughout the year. Mario Kart then Arms then Splatoon then Mario with a few surprises at e3 and wouldn't be surprised to see them at 10mil worldwide by the end of the year.
 
i can't find any anywhere. been checking stockinformer every day. the best choice seems to be amazon who say they will have some in stock 31st march.
 
Wonder if with the trickle of switches that are ship this oils help Zelda have long legs.
Also it's good that retailers are pleased and optimistic about the Switch in the future.
That means t won't lose its retail space as bad as Wii U did.
 
blly155 said:
i can't find any anywhere. been checking stockinformer every day. the best choice seems to be amazon who say they will have some in stock 31st march.
Click to expand...


Tesco also taking orders for 30th March, must be next big shipment at end of the month. I imaging they will want a good number on shelves before Mario Kart releases.
 
kitsuneyo said:
They had a couple in my local Sainsbury's Friday night. Was quite surprised.
Click to expand...

My Sainsburys has the grey ones too, I think it's maybe a shop people aren't checking plus it doesn't have an online stock checker so it's one of the few places likely to still have stock since its only physical purchases.
 
blly155 said:
i can't find any anywhere. been checking stockinformer every day. the best choice seems to be amazon who say they will have some in stock 31st march.
Click to expand...

I settled on Amazon and placed an order for a grey console, also ordered a pro controller which will be in stock on 22nd. I've got games to keep me busy until the end of the month anyway.

Also ordered Zelda from shopto with more stock arriving on 24th.
 
It is the same case for Japan right? I am really afraid Nintendo allocated almost everything for launch, maybe it would be better to launch in the end of March instead of the start.
 
SlickShoes said:
My Sainsburys has the grey ones too, I think it's maybe a shop people aren't checking plus it doesn't have an online stock checker so it's one of the few places likely to still have stock since its only physical purchases.
Click to expand...

It was the grey ones in mine too.

What if our Sainsbury's are the same?! 😯
 
If you have problems getting one import it from Italy, it's available everywhere:
http://www.euronics.it/acquistaonline/console/nintendo/console-switch/eProd172000205/
http://www.euronics.it/acquistaonline/console/nintendo/console-switch/eProd172000204/
https://www.unieuro.it/online/Switch/Switch-JoyCon-pidNIN2500066
https://www.unieuro.it/online/Switch/Switch-JoyCon-pidNIN2500166
https://www.trony.it/online/console...switch/nintendo-switch-joy-con_sku-2170003130
https://www.trony.it/online/console...switch/nintendo-switch-joy-con_sku-2170003129
https://www.gamestop.it/Switch/Games/99738/nintendo-switch

and so on...

Only gamestop seems to have ended colored switch, but it still has grey ones.


PS:
trony puts switch in the handheld category.

EDIT:
i dunno if those shops ship outside Italy though, but you could eventually ask someone to buy one and ship it to you
 
JoeNut said:
i have seen LOTS more advertising in the last week than prior to launch, weirdly enough
Click to expand...

Yep, pre-launch it was only the 1-2 Switch commercial. I now see the Zelda commercial constantly.
 
ferrasvansen said:
Checked here in Glasgow, not available in any stores and not for delivery either. I guess it just depends where you are stock informer says grey is available in 29 stores and neon in just 3.
Click to expand...

That's weird, I assumed for online they just had like a central warehouse or whatever but it must still be localised to a degree online or off. Although stock informer doesn't show mine as having any and they've been in stock all morning ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, this is for Lancashire if anyone is still hunting.
 
ferrasvansen said:
Checked here in Glasgow, not available in any stores and not for delivery either. I guess it just depends where you are stock informer says grey is available in 29 stores and neon in just 3.
Click to expand...

was in the stockwell argos this morning. they don't have either model. also nothing showing up on the website for my post code.
 
XP_version2 said:
That's weird, I assumed for online they just had like a central warehouse or whatever but it must still be localised to a degree online or off. Although stock informer doesn't show mine as having any and they've been in stock all morning ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, this is for Lancashire if anyone is still hunting.
Click to expand...

Argos does have a central warehouse, but they also offer Amazon Prime Now-like same day delivery which will be from a local store. So when it says "available for home delivery", it could be either.
 
Im curious, has there ever been a system launch that DIDNT sell out? I see stories like this and its just like "what did you expect?". Its been 1 week.
 
2+2=5 said:
If you have problems getting one import it from Italy, it's available everywhere:
http://www.euronics.it/acquistaonline/console/nintendo/console-switch/eProd172000205/
http://www.euronics.it/acquistaonline/console/nintendo/console-switch/eProd172000204/
https://www.unieuro.it/online/Switch/Switch-JoyCon-pidNIN2500066
https://www.unieuro.it/online/Switch/Switch-JoyCon-pidNIN2500166
https://www.trony.it/online/console...switch/nintendo-switch-joy-con_sku-2170003130
https://www.trony.it/online/console...switch/nintendo-switch-joy-con_sku-2170003129
https://www.gamestop.it/Switch/Games/99738/nintendo-switch

and so on...

Only gamestop seems to have ended colored switch, but it still has grey ones.


PS:
trony puts switch in the handheld category.

EDIT:
i dunno if those shops ship outside Italy though, but you could eventually ask someone to buy one and ship it to you
Click to expand...

Even if they did would need to buy a UK AC adapter seperately
 
LordKano said:
Wii wasn't "crazy popular". It was one of the few countries where 360 outsold it. UK is one of the weakest market for Nintendo, that's a fact.
Click to expand...

The Wii was a monster here for a while.

I vividly remember a Christmas period where all the Mums and other obvious "non-gamers" in my office were going loopy trying to find them and talking of paying over the odds on ebay etc.
 
LordKano said:
Wii wasn't "crazy popular". It was one of the few countries where 360 outsold it. UK is one of the weakest market for Nintendo, that's a fact.
Click to expand...
Huh? It was huge here, especially for the first few years. I remember it being on the national news and demos on TV on breakfast shows and prime time around launch period. People who I knew that previously had zero interest in gaming were loving it, I've never seen anything like it. I remember Wii Fit being massive.
 
LordKano said:
Wii wasn't "crazy popular". It was one of the few countries where 360 outsold it. UK is one of the weakest market for Nintendo, that's a fact.
Click to expand...

Those first two years were insane. It was sold out the first Christmas it went on sale, understandably. But it was very hard to find at Christmas again a year later. The damn console was a phenomenom, I had coworkers who never touched videogames raving about it

After ~3 years it was dead here though
 
LordKano said:
Wii wasn't "crazy popular". It was one of the few countries where 360 outsold it. UK is one of the weakest market for Nintendo, that's a fact.
Click to expand...

Brah, pls.

Seriously: it's true that right now UK is (we'll see how things go with Switch) the weakest market for Nintendo, but back in the Wii/DS era? For several years, Nintendo rocked UK, with insane hardware and software numbers. Yes, Wii sales decreased fast in its later years, so much that 360 outsold it in the end, but it's not because Wii / DS weren't strong.
 
Mpl90 said:
Brah, pls.

Seriously: it's true that right now UK is (we'll see how things go with Switch) the weakest market for Nintendo, but back in the Wii/DS era? For several years, Nintendo rocked UK, with insane hardware and software numbers. Yes, Wii sales decreased fast in its later years, so much that 360 outsold it in the end, but it's not because Wii / DS weren't strong.
Click to expand...

I think it's a bit of an outlier though because the Wii especially managed to attracted a completely different market which ordinarily wouldn't touch a Nintendo device. I'm not sure we'll see that again, it was lightning in a bottle pretty much.

I don't think Nintendo has been massively popular outside of that period(before & after).
 
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