Pikachu illustrator. The most expensive trading card ever sold.
Worth a whopping $16 million.
All for a piece of paper and drawing that maybe took two hours.
Pokémon fans, don’t get angry at me. Obviously, way more went into this card than a few dollars and a design.
But what really caused this insane price?
Because it was a prize card? Because it was made at a Japanese illustration contest? Maybe it had a rich backstory?
None of those is the reason behind this incredibly high price. The real reason is the same thing all other luxury products run on.
It’s scarcity.
There were only 39 Pikachu Illustrators cards made, and experts estimate only 13-20 remain today.
The rarer something is (or is perceived to be), the more you can charge.
Here’s how to use it in your business.
How to (ethically) use scarcity to instantly increase the perceived value of your business
Scarcity is about decreasing the perceived supply.
The less your customers think you have, the more exclusive and expensive the product becomes.
Here are my favorite ways to do this.
#1 Create a Never Available Again Offer (Time-Bound)
This combines scarcity (having less because you won’t sell it again) with urgency (having to buy it now).
This works for:
Pre-Releases
Limited Edition
Seasonal (only sold in January)
Make sure you have a reason why your product is scarce.
This reason could be:
You don’t have the time to keep making this (time constraint)
You only accept perfection and have limited supply (resource constraint)
The product was first made in January, so you are having a January sale (seasonal constraint)
Deconstructed: Starbucks’ Unicorn Frappucino
Starbucks’ Unicorn Frappucino
Starbucks releases many scarcity-driven drinks. The Unicorn Frappuccino was only available from April 19-25 and in certain stores in US, Canada, & Mexico.
A word from Roku…
How Jennifer Anniston’s LolaVie brand grew sales 40% with CTV ads
The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Anniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.
#2 Use Scarcity on Your Website and Marketing Copy
Have you been on a website and seen, “Diego R. just bought [item you wanted to buy]”
Chances are, it’s fake. But scarcity tactics like this work in getting you to think the product is popular and you should buy now.
Deconstructed: Groupon Massage
Source: HubSpot
There are plenty of ways you can use “scarcity” messages.
3 seats remaining. Waitlist closes in 6 hours. Limited item: one left in your size.
When you use these, be ethical. Don’t make outrageous claims. Don’t have a “sale ending in 10 minutes” timer always on your website.
Your customers will sniff out any signs of manipulation and won’t trust you.
#3 Always Have a Reason to Be Perceived as Scarce
Your business should always be scarce. You have a limited amount of time, resources, and capacity.
So, tell your customers that.
We only handle three new clients every month because we have a small team that ensures quality. When the three spots are full, you have to wait until the next month.
Ethical? Yes. And this creates scarcity that gets customers to buy.
You can also do this with a total business cap.
We only carry 10 shirts in that size at a time. Right now, the shirts are sold out but you can join a list and be the first to be notified when we get our next batch.
Here’s a powerful tip. When you sell out, make sure to let everyone know. Your business seems valuable and customers will want to buy from you when it opens again.
This is why luxury brands purposely keep a low quantity so they always “sell out”. This increases the scarcity of the brand (when in reality they only sold 3 items).
- Warren
Note: Not all of these tactics may apply to your business. A course seller would find it better to use an urgency-based discount as there are no constraints on their time. Real and ethical scarcity always works best.