3 ms·
I wonder whether for some merchants the best message will always be "1 product left in stock" and therefore it is in the merchant's interest to restock only one
by MarkMc 12y ago
I wonder whether for some merchants the best message will always be "1 product left in stock" and therefore it is in the merchant's interest to restock only one item immediately after every sale...
- bartkappenburg 12y agoFunny you mention it, it is actually a little more complex in practice. The 'soft spot' for number of items left in stock is somewhere between 2 and 5 (135 left in stock makes one postpone the buying decision obviously ;-)). The problem with 1 left in stock is that people are responding well to scarcity in general but often don't like to be pushed toward a decision right now.... this is counter effective.
- kardos 12y agoThe other problem with "1 left in stock" is that I might want to buy two, and if you claim to have only one, I'll go to another site rather than order from you and wait an unknown amount of time for you to restock
- bartkappenburg 12y agoYes, that also plays a part in the effectiveness of the message.
- anigbrowl 12y agoYeah, I usually distrust any stocking information - unless my need is urgent or I'm after some unusual item (like something handmade rather than manufactured) I assume a) that it's BS and b) that if it's that popular, it'll be back in stock soon enough, or available elsewhere. The social proof of seeing other people order, oddly enough, I find much more persuasive even though it's just as subject to manipulation. Maybe I'm just jaded from the ubiquity of 'hurry in, this offer can't last' advertisements on TV, on the weekly coupon junk mail that shows up in the mailbox and so on. I always wonder why car dealerships make such a huge thing out of their sales, given that they seem to occur on almost a monthly basis.
- bartkappenburg 12y agoThe goal of our algorithms is to predict that you are more sensitive to social proof than scarcity.
- sliverstorm 12y agoHaving owned a lot of uncommon, unusual, and vintage products over the years, there is intrinsic value to many other people owning the product beyond simple social proof.
- anigbrowl 12y agoQuite so. I'm into synthesizers and like any other specialist hobby, the more rarefied examples have significant costs of ownership besides scarcity, eg the difficulty of maintenance or finding people competent to do repairs if they become necessary.