When a wise spender sees something that they want to buy, they typically go through some sort of period (unique to each individual) where they mull over the decision about whether or not to actually make the purchase.
Then along comes some sort of time-based stipulation. Sales. The sunglasses they want will only be 20% off for one week, or JC Penny’s sale for BOGO jeans is only good on Memorial Day weekend. Maybe that iPad on eBay has only 4 hours of bidding left. The addition of a time constraint is a retailer’s way of forcing a potential buyer to make a snap decision to buy the product right away. It erodes the smart spender’s ability to make a well thought out choice by threatening to take a bargain away unless they buy RIGHT NOW!
But in recent years savvy Internet businesses are taking this tactic one step further by introducing the 24 hour product. This is a product, or selection of products, that will only be available for purchase for 24 hours, and after that they quit selling it. Of course there are variations on the theme. Some sell the merchandise for one week only, others have various methods of attempting to ‘vote’ items back into production. But what this sales model does pushes beyond the scope of the Sale. It instills the fear in a buyer that if they don’t buy it now there will never be any more. They preys on the natural human hatred of missed opportunities in a brilliant, and profitable, way.
Such businesses are clearly booming. Within the realm of apparel alone there are so many sites running this type of business model that there are even 3rd party sites that collate the different 24 hour product site’s listings in one place.
Popular examples of this kind of site include:
http://www.teefury.com/
https://www.riptapparel.com/
http://popuptee.com/
http://www.othertees.com/
While the feasibility of this model to work in other areas of commerce is perhaps laughable… (a car model only available for one week? I think not.), it has potential. I can easily imagine iTunes doing something like this with up-and-coming bands, and even established bands, that are trying to get their music out to a huge new audience. Once a day, for one day only, an artist puts up a song that will never be available any other way.
Love the idea or hate it, it seems to be making money.
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