The real explanation why Nintendo is eclipsing Sony and Microsoft in gaming

We've all read the stories (heck, I've written some of them) about how Microsoft's XBox 360 has the one year edge over Sony's Playstation 3, or why the PS3 rules over XBox 360 through its support of 1080p video or its superior marketing. But I think the surprise of the winter season was seeing Nintendo's Wii post sales numbers that eclipsed both of those platforms -- and did it at a profit to boot. How can that be when the two other platforms are so technologically advanced? Heck, the Wii doesn't even do HDTV!

Well, here's a pretty good reason why Nintendo is rocking customers, and it has nothing to do with technology. It's all about good old fashioned customer service. It seems a woman had a problem with her few-months-old Nintendo Wii, and with some trepidation, she called the customer service line. Read the entire story at the site, but the punch lines tell a lot of it below:

She wasn't Japanese, but clearly Nintendo is a Japanese company. Only a Japanese service center would apologize for taking 30 minutes to repair a piece of electronics when my expectation going in was that I'd be without it for two weeks.
....
In those 25 minutes, they'd transferred all of my Miis, friends, and saved games from the old console to a new one. She logged on to make sure my 500 points transferred to the shopping channel. She sent me out with a $0.00 invoice showing a warranty replacement of my Wii and a reset of the warranty clock, meaning the Wii I took home has 15 months of coverage from today, even though I bought my original one almost 3 months ago.

So this is my Valentine to Nintendo. That was the most awesome customer service experience I ever, ever had.

Think she will buy more Nintendo products and promote the Nintendo brand with her friends? I do.

Moral: Great customer experiences can come from technology, but they can also come from just plain, old respect for the customer's time, money, and loyalty. Nintendo gets it; Sony and Microsoft still have work to do. And until they get it, Nintendo is going to keep surprising them -- and making money every step of the way.

Technorati Tags: Customer loyalty, Customer service, Games, Gaming, Marketing, Nintendo, Wii