- User uploads video showing Walmart warehouse full of Play Station 5 consoles
- People accuse the store chain of “hoarding” the console
- This could be a marketing tactic for the upcoming holidays
A short video that has gone viral on TikTok shows massive amounts of PS5s in Walmart’s storage. Prompts users to accuse the chain of hoarding the consoles amid shortages.
Viral TikTok Shows Warehouse Full of PS5s
With the holiday season just around the corner, Walmart and other large distributors, are stocking up on the latest tech that people would want to gift their loved ones. Among the hottest wanted items is the new PS5, which saw a massive demand this year, quickly becoming Sony’s best console.
As markets go, with such high demand and limited supply, the console’s price skyrocketed. According to some people, the high prices might be partially contributed to the way some chains distribute the item.
Recently a Walmart employee, going by the username hishamhasan3, posted a video on TikTok, that went viral, showing a warehouse full of pallets filled with PlayStation 5 consoles. “This is why y’all don’t have the PS5 because Walmart is hoarding all of them,” they wrote.
After seeing the video, many people have expressed concerns that Walmart is “hoarding” the console, to boost prices. “Hoarding” is a marketing technique, which many consider being unethical, as it artificially creates shortages to drive prices of a certain commodity up.
Is Walmart Hoarding Play Station 5s on Purpose?
Some say Walmart is holding onto the goods, in order to release them for the holiday season, when they will be again very coveted. Naturally, many who want the console, but can’t yet find it, due to the general shortage, expressed concerns over that fact.
According to the video’s uploader, many parts of the inventory were marked for consoles that have already been claimed but have yet to be shipped out. “Most of them are backup orders,” they said.
This is yet another point critics are saying, that Walmart is keeping the overall supply low in order to drive prices even higher.
If the chain is hoarding the consoles, then it would simply add to the shortages of electronic goods this year, which also affected things like GPUs of the latest generation.
To get new consoles like the PS5, or the new Xbox Series X and S, customers have signed up for shock drop notifications and special online queues, in the hopes, they will be able to catch a sudden market surplus on time.