Nintendo shipped its Switch console by air instead of by sea to meet huge demand
Nintendo typically ships its consoles by sea—with an exception now for the Switch. Because of high demand, they had to ship a number of Switch consoles by air during its first month on the market, according to Kotaku.
“We carried some of the Switches by plane in March to serve our customers more promptly,” a Nintendo spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal.
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But shipping by air has its costs.
“Air is a big profit-squeezer because it could cost additional ¥5,000 (US $45) per unit,” said Ace Research Institute analyst Hideki Yasuda, reports Kotaku. The Wall Street Journal says that the company moved back in April to using less-expensive sea freight, though.
They report that according to the Wall Street Journal, it is believed that flights moved the consoles from factories in China to the US and Europe, although that has yet to be confirmed.
According to Kotaku, Nintendo originally planned to ship 2 million Switch units at launch, but ended up getting 2.74 million to stores.
And Nintendo Switch did have a record-breaking launch, bypassing the Wii’s original title back in 2006.
2. Fri-Sat sales for Nintendo Switch exceeded first 2-day sales in Americas for any system in Nintendo history. Next biggest was Wii.
— Nick Wingfield (@nickwingfield) March 6, 2017
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