Comments on: Scarcity and Consumer Panic https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2007/01/16/scarcity-and-consumer-panic/ Culture, Politics, Academia and Other Shiny Objects Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:06:51 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.15 By: Timothy Burke https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2007/01/16/scarcity-and-consumer-panic/comment-page-1/#comment-3144 Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:06:51 +0000 http://weblogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=319#comment-3144 Yeah, the Wii is a mighty fascinating thing in its own right, and you’re exactly right that it shows just how a very very very small change in I/O, or in interface design, can be paradigm-shattering. All it takes is somebody taking a step back and asking, “Hm. Why do we do it this way and not that way?” Apple, much as I’m down on them for the stupidity of their DRM and for the flimsiness of the iPod, has a lot of genius for this kind of rethinking of interface.

]]> By: daddy democrat https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2007/01/16/scarcity-and-consumer-panic/comment-page-1/#comment-3143 Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:46:40 +0000 http://weblogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=319#comment-3143 I think manipulated scarcity is deemed necessary at a product launch because it creates mounds of “free media.” The scarcity itself, even the anticipation of the scarcity, is covered in the news, blogs, etc. You barely have to run traditional advertising to create incredible awareness of your new product, which normally costs a bundle to achieve.

After the launch, I think that steadily supplying the consumer demand is probably the way to go. I don’t think it will ever be hard to get a Wii from Nintendo again, and they’ll sell bazillions.

Incidentally, we were able to get a Wii on its launch day. I didn’t pre-order, I didn’t wait in a long line, I didn’t comb craig’s list or ebay. I just shopped at an unlikely outlet– JCPenney, which took my order after all of two minutes of effort. A week or two later, a box landed at our door.

And it is all of that and a bag of chips. People have fun when they’re playing it. And it’s much more effective as a social experience than I any previous gaming platform that I’ve ever seen before, all for a “little” change in the paradigm for I/O. Now if we can revolutionize computer inputs.

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