There’s a lot to be said for creating a ‘hip’ / ‘cool’ product that blows the completion out of the water, but what’s the use if the customer can’t buy?
Let’s be clear: when you’re in the market for a certain product, *especially* a nice new laptop, there’s plenty of reasons to sell yourself into buying a product with very little convincing from a salesperson. Today was a perfect example for my partner, who’s in the market to buy a nice new portable laptop.
In this post, I’m going to talk about:
- Marketing through scarcity – Apple and Costco
- What went wrong with the marketing strategy and the launch of the new ASUS Zenbook, more importantly will this impact upon ASUS’s profitability of this product?
- The overall result for the consumer, including the perception of loyalty of the ASUS brand
The element of scarcity: no, you can’t have it!!
How crushing is the feeling that what’s advertised isn’t available for purchase? It’s the balance between supply and demand and the element of scarcity that can convince us to make spur of the moment purchases on items that may even be over priced. This is a strategy that Apple uses very well. Why does Apple get hundreds of people lining up to buy their products? It’s because they create a limited supply. If you don’t buy now, you’ll have to wait – and you might be waiting a while!
Now I’m not one who has joined this long line, but I can completely understand the reason why. If you’re already sold on the product and you’re happy to part with your hard earned cash, you’ll go to every length to get what you want. The thought of us being told ‘no’ makes us want the product even more.
I can relate to this strategy myself, after a recent visit to the new exclusive ‘members only’ Costco store that recently opened in Canberra. Yes, you’re allowed to browse, but if you want to make a purchase then you’ll have to fork out $60 to become a member first. So here I am happily browsing products knowing that I am not actually allowed to buy. What did I do? Sign up of course… How dare you tell me no! I think we are programmed to avoid feeling like we are ‘missing out’.
A similar strategy is also used in the online marketing world. Sales letters need to ‘close’ the sale by making you take immediate action, otherwise you’ll miss out. What would make you do that? Telling you that an offer is only available now – done by limiting one or more of the terms of the sale: a limited number or products or a limited time frame. Why? If we had forever and a day to buy, would you? Unless the marketing for a product makes you want it straight away, would you think to come back in a week? A Month? Would you remember at all?
ASUS Zen: a marketing fail or marketing win?
After stumbling upon the ASUS promotions team with their fancy holographic like promo display screens, we were instantly drawn to take a further look. It’s the release of their new ASUS Zen series laptops. My partner was instantly hooked. As told by the young woman, the laptop was now available in three stores: Harvey Norman, Dick Smith and JB Hi-Fi.
Having already researched competing models, he decided that this was it. The decision was already made. It was time to go shopping. After investigating all three stores, the result was clear: most stores didn’t have stock or only just the base model machines.
On return to the ASUS promotions team, we quizzed the young woman about the availability of the laptop for purchase online. “I don’t know, I’m not sure” was the reply. On further investigation, it was clear that it wasn’t available for purchase online yet. Hence, the element of scarcity.
But is this really a good type of scarcity, or just a marketing fail? Apple obviously knows their projected sales, and only release a percentage of their product to purposely create scarcity. I think for the case of ASUS, it was just poor marketing. Why start actively promoting something if you can’t even pre-order? In the case of JB Hi-Fi, they didn’t even have the product listed in their system yet.
What was the result? Frustration & annoyance. Instead of making my partner want the laptop even more, he decided to look at alternative brands. In the end however, the ASUS Zenbook is still the favourite and he has since decided to wait.
My question to you is: take a similar experience and multiply it across the majority of ASUS’s market, and what would the overall result be? Would you switch to another brand? Is the marketing behind ASUS Zen strong enough to hold interest in the product, just like purchases from Apple fans? Check out the product at http://zenbook.asus.com/design and leave your comment below.
Social Media Genies
No comments yet.