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[sonycowboy]

To try and get a better handle on NPD in a few weeks, I was wondering if any retailers required bundles. I didn't hear of any required ones, but I've been hearing various people say that they had to do the bundle thing.

Brick & Mortar - Did any require bundling
Wal-Mart
Best Buy
Gamestop
EB
Target
Circuit City
TRU
K-Mart
K-B
Sears

Online - I know bundling was common here
Amazon
The equivalent online store for the brick and morters above
(or any other online retailers)

 

[Nutter]

I am not sure what was going on nationwide. But locally here BestBuy, Costco and Circuit City were doing the Bundles. (Portland, OR)

 

[sonycowboy]

I am not sure what was going on nationwide. But locally here BestBuy, Costco and Circuit City were doing the Bundles. (Portland, OR)

What was required? 1 game, 2 games, an extra controller?

 

[Lee-T]

Best Buy - no
Wal-Mart - no
Gamestop - no in store
EB - no in store
Target - no
Circuit City - no
K-mart - no
KB - no
Sears - no
TRU - they preordered around half each stores allocation as bundles only, the bundle was around $760 for the Premium bundle, the only store to rip people off with bundles

This is for the Northern VA area.

 

[Nutter]

What was required? 1 game, 2 games, an extra controller?

Required 1 game, an extra (wireless) controller and the Plug and play charge kit. (minimum)

 

[Mejilan]

For me, BestBuy and Circuit City were requiring bundles. Target, Toys R Us, KBToys, etc., were not.

 

[DrLazy]

Required 1 game, an extra (wireless) controller and the Plug and play charge kit.

Shit, that's no biggie. Everybody should get that eventually anyway.

 

[Nutter]

Shit, that's no biggie. Everybody should get that eventually anyway.

Its no problem for people who buy everything at once... but i had the extra controller and games i wanted from my credit at gamecrazy.

 

[Sean]

Gamestop here in NJ didn't have any bundle requirement (thats where I bought mine).

Costco here had their bundle - X360 Premium, Kameo, and Play/Charge Kit for $479. I believe they are doing this bundle at every location, not 100% positive on that though.

 

[ChrisReid]

Yeah, that's the Sears bundle. They're about the only place that universally bundled, and the only place that gave you a good deal on bundles. Most other bundles seem to be like regional or store dictated terms.

 

[cvxfreak]

Is Costco counted as part of the NPD even though it's a wholesale?

Or is Costco technically retail?

 

[sonycowboy]

Is Costco counted as part of the NPD even though it's a wholesale?

Or is Costco technically retail?

Costco is definitely retail. The wholesale thing is pure marketing.

In any case, I don't believe Costco participates in the TRSTS.

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

Costco's bundle not only included essential items, it also saved you money. Unprecedented!

It was a nationwide thing with the Premium Pack, extra wireless controller, play and charge kit, and Kameo for $480.

 

[cvxfreak]

Costco's bundle not only included essential items, it also saved you money. Unprecedented!

It was a nationwide thing with the Premium Pack, extra wireless controller, play and charge kit, and Kameo for $480.

Too bad my Costco didn't get any.

I can see why Costco would definitely throw off the NPD if they participated - would they have to consider it a Costco-only bundle?

 

[Alcibiades]

The Best Buy bundles aren't supposed to be forced bundles. If you notice, they shrinkwrap it themselves with the goal of attaching accessories to hardware sales.

That said, it's not company policy and in fact if they won't sell you the bundle otherwise talk with the store manager. This past week you could have probably gotten by easily showing them the ad for the launch, which didn't display any bundles and only showed the 2 hardware prices. If you brought enough money only for what was advertised, then you've got a case against them.

I suggest if anybody has any problems with this, to call in and talk to a manager that may help you get in contact with a district manager where you can explain the situation.

 

[sonycowboy]

Too bad my Costco didn't get any.

I can see why Costco would definitely throw off the NPD if they participated - would they have to consider it a Costco-only bundle?

Costco could provide the individual skus of the items they sold as that's how they ordered them from Microsoft and they created the bundles themselves.

Also, NPD could easily deconstruct it themselves. It wouldn't be a problem.

However, and this is a tiny issue as I don't think Costco even has a single 1% market share, Kameo could be underreported because NPD would extrapolate Kameo's total sales based on unit sales of reporting stores. Say, their selection of stores sold Kameo at a 1-6 ratio with the hardware, so they would extrapolate total sales based on ALL retailers doing something similar.

That's why this regional bundling will be a bit strange. Depending on the number of stores contributing and how many did bundles vs not, NPD could be under or overreporting sales. I know they have some provisions for these sorts of things, but I also know it's not perfect.

 

[Sean]

Costco's bundle not only included essential items, it also saved you money. Unprecedented!

It was a nationwide thing with the Premium Pack, extra wireless controller, play and charge kit, and Kameo for $480.

Yeah, I was planning to go there if my Gamestop pre-order fell through. I was buying all that stuff anyway, so it was a pretty good bundle for me.

 

[vitaflo]

Best Buy should not require bundles. If they were, you should report them to BB Corporate because I know it's a company policy to not require bundles. They can push bundles, but not force you to buy them.

 

[VALIS]

Circuit City online - 2 games (PGR3, NFS), wireless controller, play & charge kit.

 

[jobber]

Wal Mart - No Bundles

 

[FreakyFink]

Fry's required a bundle purchase.

 

[Nutter]

Best Buy should not require bundles. If they were, you should report them to BB Corporate because I know it's a company policy to not require bundles. They can push bundles, but not force you to buy them.

Sadly, that wasnt the case at my bestbuy.... i had planned on picking up 2 systems from them, but when i arrived at bestbuy at 4:45am there was this HUGE sign on the front door regarding the 360 (stating sold only in bundles)(and it also said "we apologize for the incorrect ad") WTF

 

[Alcibiades]

Sadly, that wasnt the case at my bestbuy.... i had planned on picking up 2 systems from them, but when i arrived at bestbuy at 4:45am there was this HUGE sign on the front door regarding the 360 (stating sold only in bundles)(and it also said "we apologize for the incorrect ad") WTF

you should report them, call them and ask them how you can get in contact with their regional or district manager

 

[DarkAngelYuna]

Sears I work at didn't require anyone to buy a bundle.

 

[Nutter]

you should report them, call them and ask them how you can get in contact with their regional or district manager

Already done, not just by me... but atleast 30 other people.
In fact i have heard that invesitgation regarding this will start tomorrow. (bestbuy corp will be doing the investigation)

 

[ParkPace]

The Circuit City I bought my 360 at (Crossgates Commons Plaza in Albany, NY), didn't require bundles at all. Even got a decent number of systems in too (16 premium, 5 retard). They were giving $10 gift cards to those who bought two games with the system. On launch day, they were selling whatever accessories they had (left?) for 10% off too.

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

Best Buy tried to make us buy bundles. Before I went out to camp I called and made sure they weren't going to force bundles. The manager said they wouldn't. Their paper ads also quoted $399 and said nothing of bundles. So after camping out for 8 hours they said they were going to force bundles and the cheapest one would be $650. A lot of the people were pretty pissed. So this kid in line behind me calls his father, who works for one of the local news channels, and they send out a reporter to do live interviews with the people in line etc... After that they didn't make us buy anything with the console. Was pretty funny.