Q&A: Impatient Shoppers On 'Why Wii Want A Wii'

Several things about the Wii continue to amaze me.

1. It continues to be hard to obtain. Given that every single component of the Wii is easier and cheaper to manufacture, and by all accounts yields should also be higher on all of it's components yet it cannot meet demand.
2. Either stores are actively lying to consumers about their knowledge about stock, or they're keeping the information in the hands of a select few, leaving other workers to deal with frustrated consumers. In this age with real time ordering and inventory systems, it is simply false that stores do not know when a shipment is coming in. Employees may not be made aware, but someone somewhere knows. Why not provide some info? Just because Target has a back door into their system is the only reason consumers have turned to them more than any other retailer. It's good for business for consumers to know that they can get what they want.
   
3. Wii Parties!
   

Frustration Factor... Rising?

One notable factor for those queuing was frustration, since Wii demand has way, way outpaced supply, leaving many shoppers steaming. “For about a month and a half now I've been trying to get one, and it's just impossible to find,” commented one shopper. “You have to come right when the UPS driver delivers it, and Best Buy refuses to tell you whenever they are getting in shipments. They lie and tell you that they have no idea when they are coming in, when they obviously do know when they are coming in.”

Another couple noted similar experiences: “We've been to at least fifty stores checking for at least three weeks, and we haven't found one yet.” The relative ease of finding games for the Wii is additionally frustrating many consumers, while the console itself and further Wii-motes have been more or less unattainable.