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Comment by jandrese | Hacker News Reader

So the solution is to have Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo sell directly to the consumer? Apple can do this because they don't have to keep third party retailers happy, they own the distribution chain from top to bottom.

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Huh? I can buy Apple products at Best Buy, Costco, Target, Walmart, AT&T, T-mobile, Verizon, Kohl's, etc etc.

There are plenty of retail outlets that are more than happy to sell Apple products while Apple also sells...

Is that so crazy? Direct to consumer seems like an obvious solution to the problem. What are all of the middlemen adding, anyway?

The economy is full of all sorts of middlemen.

They know local markets, and it's easier to deal with a few of them than all the consumers. For a heck of a lot of businesses.

Apple is pretty special in that they've got the whole consumer end themselves.

Adding middlemen spreads money across geographies as opposed to the money flowing directly to the HQ. To use a car analogy a local dealership creates jobs and ensures some of the money spent by people in an area is recirculated in the area.

This doesn’t make sense. First, the middlemen we’re talking about are other online companies 99% of the time. Second, cutting out the middlemen reduces price pressure for both the manufacturer and the consumer.

From what I recall that was one of the justifications behind Automobile Dealer Franchise Act of 1956. I remember reading about it a while back, but I cannot find the exact reference now; just articles about the law in general.

Both Sony and Microsoft do sell hardware direct to consumers on their websites, in addition to selling through third party retailers.

This is how I got my most recent Playstation.

It wasn't just a queue, though. It was a time limited shuffle of the pool of people who saw a notification with enough time to join the lottery. It still took me months of attempts.

Even with third parties why wouldn't you have a queue?

Because the third parties don't really care enough. They just want to make the sale and get paid. Where is the incentive to setup and manage a queue for someone like Target?

If they had a queue, I'd add myself and they'd get a guaranteed sale from me. Since there's no queue, I just have to wait until they're in stock somewhere. Might be Target, but it'll more likely be somewhere else.

Why would they care about selling to you, in particular? It's not like they have any spare..

it works as a market differentiator - if target is the only one that implements a purchase-before-restock queue, they get guaranteed purchases from people who are price sensitive and not time sensitive

that no one is doing this... maybe it has something to do with the fact that it would show up as a liability in accounting until they deliver the product

Back ordering is a pretty established concept. Surely it’s trivial for a major retailer?

Backordering, when the supplier can't/won't give you a reliable restock date is a recipe for burning customer goodwill.

Why not? Most game purchases are downloads now. They don't need 3rd party retailers.

There is a Microsoft store online, why not?

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