UK retailers warned: PlayStation 3 price reductions may harm market

UK retailers have begun to report that Sony‘s PlayStation 3 launch is the “biggest-ever”. They are expecting to sell more over the Easter season.The retailers are now being warned that reducing the price of the console to sell more of their stock may harm the market in the long run. Most retailers have already fulfilled their pre-order obligations and are looking to offload their existing stocks.

Don McCabe, the managing director of Chips, said that retailers should not panic if they still have some stocks left. He mentioned that “Sony put an awful lot of product in the channel when we’re used to previous launches where we have to manage customers expectations”. He added that“Day one sales were very good, but since then it’s not been so good. There seems to be a lot of discounts going around on the machine and on games.”

McCabe also noted that “The market needs to stabilise because there’s some retailers that have got a few too many units. They’re trying to bring down their stock levelstoo quickly.”

Some retailers have been following this philosophy, an example would be HMV. HMV’s head of games, Tim Ellis, said that they still have consoles in stock.They are expecting to sell them over the next few weeks as new games are released.

UK retailers have begun to report that Sony‘s PlayStation 3 launch is the “biggest-ever”. They are expecting to sell more over the Easter season.The retailers are now being warned that reducing the price of the console to sell more of their stock may harm the market in the long run. Most retailers have already fulfilled their pre-order obligations and are looking to offload their existing stocks.

Don McCabe, the managing director of Chips, said that retailers should not panic if they still have some stocks left. He mentioned that “Sony put an awful lot of product in the channel when we’re used to previous launches where we have to manage customers expectations”. He added that“Day one sales were very good, but since then it’s not been so good. There seems to be a lot of discounts going around on the machine and on games.”

McCabe also noted that “The market needs to stabilise because there’s some retailers that have got a few too many units. They’re trying to bring down their stock levelstoo quickly.”

Some retailers have been following this philosophy, an example would be HMV. HMV’s head of games, Tim Ellis, said that they still have consoles in stock.They are expecting to sell them over the next few weeks as new games are released.