Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

Nintendo has been known for having unique and innovative ideas for it's various gaming consoles and software. Thinking outside of the box is Nintendo's creed when it comes to developing new products. From Evolving the Gameboy from just a single screen, monotone portable gaming device to its 3DS iteration, which has an additional touch screen, vibrant 3d graphics and app capabilities to add onto it being just a portable gaming system.

The best example of Nintendo's new product strategy in my opinion however is with it's Wii console. The release of the Wii really speaks to the aim of Nintendo as a business. Creative, new, and universally fun for people of all age ranges. Wii was a real game changer(no pun intended) when it was released whether you hated it or loved it. Its impression on the gaming industry is still being felt to this day with the other, newer consoles still taking notes from Wii's features.

Wii started development with the code name "Revolution"(which I think sounds waaay better than Wii) back in 2001 soon after the release of Nintendo's Gamecube console. The main goal of the Wii was to change the way games were to be played and increase the immersion factor. Incorporating  new motion controls to achieve this, it also had the added benefit of being an exercise as well as being entertainment which falls in line with Nintendo's views of being simple and clean fun for the whole family. Wii ended up being a reaaal big deal when it released, beating out its major competitors, Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 for a few years after its release. From dancing games that utilizes motion controls to sports games like boxing that does the same, Nintendo Wii  really broke the mold the way Nintendo was infamous for doing.

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

Nintendo's products fall into the heterogeneous category of shopping products. The various games and video game consoles produced by Nintendo are all essentially different from each other as well as from it's major competitors Microsoft's Xbox division and Sony's Playstation division (although this is blurred with 3rd party games sold on all 3 platforms). When you buy a Nintendo product, you know for sure that it's a Nintendo product.

Nintendo's product lines consists of video games(either published by or developed and published internally), video game consoles, and licensed merchandise such as toys, posters, cards, comics and candies based on various Nintendo video game franchises. Nintendo's main focus when it comes to products seems to be more so along the lines of developing games. Most of Nintendo's "console sellers"(games that move consoles) are it's own internally developed games such as The Legend Of Zelda and Super Smash Bros. with less focus on publishing  games developed by other developers.

Super Mario Candies

As a brand, Nintendo is on a global scale. Based in Japan, Nintendo gets a good majority of it's sales from overseas within the Americas, Europe, Australian(Australia and New Zealand) and Asia territories. Nintendo has been doing so since the 1980's and is one of the more easily recognizable brands out there now. Many consumers to this day are fiercely loyal to the brand even to this day with many buying only Nintendo products over everything else when it comes to video game entertainment. Whistle the Super Mario theme or hum the Tetris theme anywhere and chances are someone is going to recognize the tunes despite them being over at least 20 years old.

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

Nintendo has an online service called "Club Nintendo" that was created for long-term consumers in mind. The way that the service is designed is that those who register can earn points(fashioned as gold coins from the Super Mario series) for every Nintendo product they purchase(and register) that can be redeemed for either free Nintendo games or other Nintendo related merchandise unavailable otherwise. Those who are registered can also fill out surveys about the products they've registered as well that also earns them gold coins.

Club Nintendo's home page

Outside of this process, Nintendo frequently sends Club Nintendo members deals and sales via email that is apparently exclusive to these members.I myself being a member have received various sales promotions from Nintendo. Im also on the mailing list of both of Nintendo's major competitors Sony and Microsoft and I can definitely give Nintendo credit for being more friendly when it comes to sales promotion for "valued" customers than the others(Microsoft being THE WORST at this).

With that being said, Nintendo also keeps track of consumer's tastes in video games. Theres been many of times I've been suggested a video game due to me registering another game that's similar. It's kind of creepy in a way, but it's to be expected since Nintendo is keen on keeping it's customers in the loop. These suggestions often come with very detailed descriptions and I have on more than one occasion considered buying a game based on them. Overall, its pretty nice that Nintendo at least knows the games I would most likely be interested in instead of just throwing random games in my face. Im not a serious Nintendo gamer(I do most of my gaming on Sony's consoles) but I must admit that it feels more comfortable shopping with Nintendo than the others. Seems like Nintendo is paying more attention to my preferences and is ready to do business. I'm speaking from experience, so I know that there's many like-minded people out there that continue to shop with Nintendo because of this.