Why Nintendo was a Wii Bit Off Forecast

For the second holiday season in a row, Nintendo has botched forecasted demand for the Wii game system, leaving frustrated potential buyers clutching at -- well, nothing.

Is it really this hard this hard to forecast? In a new blog on Harvard Business, Yossi Sheffi says all companies including Nintendo under-utilize one simple forecasting tool that could help them get a handle on and match production to consumer trends: Point of sales data.

Sheffi, the Director of the Engineering Systems Division at MIT, offers insights on several POS tools that you might find useful in tracking your own customers.

Remember also that shortages aren't always bad, as Harvard Business School marketing professor John Quelch points out in How to Profit from Scarcity.