Answer to Question #220761 in Economics for John

Question

With the help of examples, explain why different economic decision makers face the
problem of scarcity.

Answer 1

1. Booking.com

Booking.com, a hotel booking service around the world, is doing a lot, including a shortage. Take a look at the search results for Dublin hotels:

1. Booking.com

This includes a couple of scarcity triggers:

“Hurry up to book today at this great price” is a hint that the offer will soon be unavailable.

Booked 26 times today shows how popular the hotel is.

"5 users are viewing the page now" - speaks of the struggle of visitors for the offer.

"You didn't have time!" “Damn it, I didn't have time. You need to be more agile next time.

“In-demand - we have 4 numbers left” - this is the most overt application for a deficit on the site.

Indeed, hotel rooms are not endless. It remains to applaud Booking.com for displaying this information accurately, clearly, and convincingly.

How to use the principle of scarcity and the urgency effect to increase sales?

2. Amazon.com

You, of course, have shopped on Amazon.com more than once and no doubt have noticed the "_ pieces left" warning:

2. Amazon.com

This amount of stock on hand, coupled with urgent delivery (“Would you like to receive the goods tomorrow?”), Is an effective method to get the buyer to take decisive action and not let them miss out on your definitely lucrative offer.

3. Chubbies Shorts

The Chubbies brand has a lot of fans and their marketing is amazing. They thrive everywhere: advertising, branding, social presence. And, of course, they are adept at handling limited-time products.

Here's an example of an ad campaign called Fourth of Julyber that runs every year:

3. Chubbies Shorts

They usually offer a "free gift" to customers every hour, but this free gift is available for a limited time, on the day of purchase, at a specific hour. So if you want an American flag swimsuit, act quickly.

4. Chubbies, part two

Chubbies demonstrates excellent scarcity play here as well.

Chubbies

When people think of Chubbies, they imagine the Fourth of July holiday - US Independence Day. Chubbies, meanwhile, are releasing a special pre-sale item with the guarantee that it will arrive by the fourth. Acting now, you don't want to miss the opportunity to show off these shorts in public.

How can you use the shortage of offers to gain an advantage over your competitors?

5. Think Geek

Another example of the successful use of scarcity is the Think Geek site.

5. Think Geek

While the banner is not easy to read, it reads: "There is still time for express delivery on Mother's Day." Just for everyone who orders at the last moment.

6. Ralph Lauren

The "pre-order" inscription hints that the price of the product will soon change upwards. In addition, this is a uniform for the closing ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, which means it should be purchased on time.

6. Ralph Lauren

7. Badgers Sweet Sixteen

Sports fans choose Badgers. In sports, there are events that happen quite rarely: championships, finals, and so on. Therefore, at every opportunity, the scarcity principle for a "limited-time product" gives rise to real examples of marketing art. One such product was a sad Bill Murray T-shirt. He was sad over the loss of his favorite basketball team, the Wisconsin Badgers.

7. Badgers Sweet Sixteen

It's just wonderful.

How to improve customer engagement with the Scarcity Principle?

8. Bumble

Bumble is a dating app that has already demonstrated the effectiveness of using scarcity to increase popularity. At first, they had a 24-hour counter, during which time the women had to start a conversation with the one whom the application picked up for them, otherwise he disappeared.

And then the creators added another element of scarcity - now the guys only have 24 hours to respond. Go for it.

8. Bumble

9. Amazon Prime Now

As you browse Amazon Prime Now for some wine, you may come across another example of scarcity:

9. Amazon Prime Now

Do you see ads? "Up to 50% off while there are 4 copies in stock." A great example of time-based scarcity.

How to increase sales by 332%, or the urgency effect of your offer

10. Bonobos

Bonobos take advantage of scarcity by telling you which sizes and colors are currently missing. And although this is a rather strange tactic for an online store, nevertheless, it effectively demonstrates that the product is in demand, is in demand, and will soon be sold out completely.

10. Bonobos