The SM malls have a history of being the place where all of the socio economic classes meet; Not as masa as Ever and not as posh or sosi as Shang and Podium, but somewhere in between. Their department store and affiliates like ourHome, surplus shop, and even watson’s offer quality goods at affordable prices. For the most part, Toy Kingdom adheres to that directive, but when you venture into their electronic/interactie section it’s a totally different story.
The Wii, which is priced at $250 in the US (12500 pesos when converted, more or less), is now being sold in Toy Kingdom for the grand total of 30,000 pesos. When I asked the saleslady why it was so expensive, she just said it was the “latest, kase, ser.”. I don’t blame her, since I’m sure the owners of Toy Kingdom don’t even bother to educate their managers about their products, much less their salespeople. I was tempted to ask for the manager, but I’m not that belligerent and I didn’t intend on buying a unit that day anyway, but I was pretty annoyed, nevertheless.
I just don’t get it. Even if they imported these consoles from the US, it’s just unbelieveable that they’d mark up the prices to more than 200% the console’s retail value. It starts to make even less sense when you consider that SM City’s Toy Kingdom is a natural extension of their toy department, whose consumer base is the masses. When I was still in a toy collecting binge way back I would buy most of my toys there because the smaller specialty shops were charging an insane markup on toys (because they were more knowledgeable and knew the actual market value of certain hard to find items). So why does the opposite become true when it comes to electronic toys?
This isn’t a case of the console being “the newest”, because on average, their current gen games and consoles are also priced higher than they would be in specialty stores in greenhills. Hasn’t anyone in upper management figured out that if they lowered the price on games people might actually start buying more from them than say, Datablitz (which offers games with a more palatable markup)?
On another tangent, if video game companies are worried about software piracy here and around the region, they should make sure to check out how much big retailers like Toy Kingdom are selling their products. Games and consoles are already priced incredibly high, but when even the games themselves are erroneously priced at 3000++ the incentive to buy an original game drops considerably.
Sitting next to the Wii was the PS3 console which if you bought it in Toy Kingdom would set you back a whopping 60 grand. The retail value of the unit in the US is $600, which amounts to 30k when converted here. Perhaps the PS3 pricing is a bit more understandable, especially if the guy they had lining up for it in the US was shot in a PS3 drive-by.
I don’t really care as much though, because I’m cold to the PS3 at this moment. I’m looking to get a Wii, and had Toy Kingdom marked it up to say, 17,500 pesos, I might have considered getting the unit already. By pricing it at 30,000, not only will I shy away from getting it now, I’ll make sure to get my Wii and Wiigames at some other store, one that won’t take advantage of my gaming need so recklessly.
To Filipino gamers reading this, I’d like to ask you a favor. Please link this up and spread it as far and wide as you can. I’m really curious as to why they price their videogames that way, and maybe if we make enough of a ruckus, they’ll send some sort of response. I doubt it, but you never know.
