Transformation through Artificial Scarcity

 Artificial scarcity is being fabricated as one of the powerful marketing strategies exercised around. This provokes the desire of human minds to seek those ‘scarce’ products with extra effort and focus. Creating curiosity and an appetite among prospective customers is a significant element for any technology or product to sell. This is a well-known approach across conventional marketers. We may perhaps recollect the entry of Google to its email product - Gmail. Everyone could not just easily sign up to have an account for himself. Beta Gmail left people waiting for an invitation from friends to sign-up to get an account. Ultimately, due to scarcity of Gmail address, people started to somehow reach out to pals requesting an invite. Mind you, Hotmail and Yahoo were dominating the industry those days. This helped Google gather momentum from their initial launch of beta sign-ups which was only through invitation on April 1, 2004. They had full launch of open sign-ups by Feb 7, 2007. By this time (almost 3 years), it became the need of everyone to have an inevitable Gmail account. Facebook also adopted this approach initially. We can see similar phenomena applied in various fields, be it blockbuster movie releases, launch of new version of iPhones, unveiling novel products  et al. 

Another mode of intensifying the desire in consumer’s mind is to keep the cost very high for products during the launch. I am sure if iPhones were inexpensive as its lookalikes, it would have neither been accounted as a prestigious asset, nor a matter of pride. But we are all witnesses of serpentine queues before the Apple stores before the very first piece is sold for all its releases. This is because of the value creation through advertisement even before having a tangible feel of the product. 

There were times when normal mobile phones where unaffordable for common man, with even incoming calls chargeable. Eventually as devices and service got cheaper, value was created among people, hence the revolution unfolded. This is same with access to internet. Now internet is craved for globally, which was once a costly affair. Now service providers are cutting down charges under constant pressure and cost battles with their rivals. This internet revolution is also spinning wheel for an information explosion whatsoever. 

In the wake of climate change and limited fuel supply, when automobile industry is delving on hybrid and electric cars, , it is impressive to witness these being implemented in top notch and pricey cars. Major players like Tesla, Audi, BMW, Volkswagen and the like, are in the race and consumers are anticipating to appraise their experience on electric cars. These will cascade down because initial takers of these segment would be the influential lot of the society. Reva was the pioneer in this experiment and is in the field for more than a decade now. But invariably they could not woo consumers as expected; reason being the cost, scarcity and desire creation factor missing in their marketing strategy. Consumers found better options with the similar price range and found it unfit. Although they are still in market and pursuing their trials, that is not sufficient to invoke a revolution though. Let the hybrid technology be applied initially on luxurious cars to create the longing for such cars in the minds of men. Subsequently, when an obsession towards the new technology is generated, let the other players come out with affordable models. In that case, this will positively be a development. All will adopt the same and let go of the oil powered machines pushing them to history. A transformation to a greener tomorrow!