Nintendo 3DS online orders arrive early

Monday, March 28, 2011 - 10:16 by Simon Crisp

A large number of UK consumers who pre-ordered the Nintendo 3DS found that they got the latest handheld games console in the post up to two days earlier than its official launch date.

The 3DS launched in the UK on March 25th, but various providers of safe shopping online actually got their pre-orders out to consumers a day or so before it was available to buy from high street stores.

There is one obvious reason for pre-orders arriving early and that is that e-commerce firms like Amazon and Play.com have to send out their deliveries early, to compensate for any delays or snare-ups which are likely to occur.

It is in the interest of those businesses offering safe shopping online to keep their pre-order customers happy and get them their goods on the day of release, otherwise people will not bother to order the next big gadget or game online and, instead, might choose to queue up in the high street with everyone else.

The recent launch of the iPad 2 is a good example of where ordering online will not necessarily get a popular product to you on the launch date. In the US, the tablet took a week or longer to get to e-commerce customers than those who headed to mainstream outlets.

The opposite seems to have occurred in the UK, with the launch of the Nintendo 3DS, with online orders getting to consumers too early. It is doubtful that retailers will be reproached for this issue as there is little they can do to affect the speed with which products are delivered in the future.

Obviously customers who ordered the 3DS online will be pleased that they did not have to wait up until various high street retailers took part in the midnight launch of the handheld console.