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What’s in a name? Business Lessons from Microsoft, Sony & Nintendo
The holiday season is upon us. Frantic gift shopping has begun. Pre-orders for Microsoft’s Xbox & Sony’s PlayStation were opened last month, and something not entirely unexpected happened in all of the chaos -
Lesson 1 — Similar model names can lead to one cannibalising another
Microsoft’s recently discontinued Xbox One X console saw a massive spike in sales on 22nd Sept. The jump in sales comes on the same day that Microsoft launched the pre-orders for its upcoming Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. According to Amazon’s Movers and Shakers page, Xbox One X sales skyrocketed 747% compared to the day before.
Before you reason that buyers ordered this version because of the high price of the latest version, or that they wanted to get their hands on the few remaining Xbox One Xs in the world, commentary online tells a story of mistaken identity with a large number of eager buyers mistaking the Xbox One X for the next-generation Xbox Series X.
What is the difference between the two you ask? Based on the product names in their respective release years, an Xbox One X is as different from an Xbox Series X as a PS4 Slim is different from a PS5.
Lesson 2 — When you give your product a name, you create an anchor in the minds of your…
