Artificial scarcity

I'm in this hobby a little more than 4 years. The last couple of them, I've seen a great number of artisans offering from brushes and razors to soaps and lotions. Most of them are very good, I had the luck to try many products. Brushes are not my thing, I prefer to spend my money on razors, which play a greater role on the shave result. I've also seen makers creating artificial scarcity in order to increase demand by reducing supply. I recall a great Italian soapmaker, who three years ago created artificial scarcity and you had to be online the exact time he was releasing the soaps to have a chance to grab one. It was very difficult, but most of you know what I mean. Now these soaps are discontinued, nobody talks about them, but still he's a very famous soapmaker that continues to offer quality soaps available for purchase any time of the day. You don't have to get crazy or have a stroke to buy one. There are resellers of his products, so he was clearly forced to change the business model, after several complaints. Wolfman tried to do the same, to offer a product readily available, but I really don't see this moving. Anyway.
This phenomenon seems to be at its peak, makers reduce the supply, offer a limited amount of products every now and then, people do their best to get one, not all of them are lucky enough, but they do try. It's a little crazy that within a couple of minutes or so, every item is gone. Personally, I refuse to follow this trend. I think it's meaningless when there are so many great products available 24 hours a day. If there were no artificial scarcity, the demand would have been diminished, be sure about that. After all, it's a behavioral phenomenon. People tend to prefer what they can't seem to get with ease. Makers know that. Of course, forums play a crucial role on this, without them the number of artisans would have been a lot smaller. I understand the anger and frustration some people express, especially when they see people getting items from these makers like it's the easiest thing in the world.

What do you think about artificial scarcity?

I agree completely. Though I think the the artificial scarcity is key. Some artisans try to keep up with demand, but simply cannot (or don't want to scale up their business to do this). Others are only part time artisans and work a full time day job. But the idea of purposefully limiting supply bugs me- though I'll be the first to say that a business owner may do whatever he or she chooses in regards to running their business.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

The majority of them doesn't want to. Artificial scarcity is the only way to increase the demand at high levels in this competitive field.

The razorock stealth slant would be an example of this IMO.

I have found that many of the artisans are retired from other forms of work and just don't want a big operation. I can fully understand that position. And yes, because they remain one or 2-man shows their products are scarce. I do not believe this is to artificially create demand; I think it is a lifestyle choice on their part and it is hard for me to disparage that personal choice.

The end result of this artificial scarcity (whether intentional if not) is an inflated secondary market. When supply does not equal demand the secondary market benefits at the expense of the average consumer. $800 for a used stainless steel razor? 25% mark up for a used brush? Are you kidding me! I agree in a free market system but some of this is absurd. I have seen or heard of posts from artisans who have tried to prevent this practice with their products (James from Wolfman and Ken from Paladin) but it still happens. Unfortunately there are those who are willing to pay these exorbitant prices and thereby perpetuate the process.

It's still a business, not a charity. They want to make profit. This one is a well- known business model. When you offer a limited amount of products the price goes up due to the high demand. When you offer a wide range of products, the prices go down to meet demand. Simple economics. I've studied Management and Business Administration but you don't have to be an economist to understand how markets work.

Thomas 'Kitsche' Kinkaid employed dozens of artists to specialize in a tree, sunlight, house for assembly line art he then signed his name to meet demand. Vincent Van Gogh- well you know that story.

I have found that many of the artisans are retired from other forms of work and just don't want a big operation. I can fully understand that position. And yes, because they remain one or 2-man shows their products are scarce. I do not believe this is to artificially create demand; I think it is a lifestyle choice on their part and it is hard for me to disparage that personal choice.

+1
Nothing "artificial" about it. Now, if Apple decides to only make 100K iPhone 8's, I would call that artificial.