Limited-Editions – state of research, willingness to pay and price-based consumer behaviour
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Abstract
English
Commodity theory by Brock (1968) postulates changes in both individuals’ attitudes and their valuations towards goods as a reaction to scarcity. Attitude changes have been well discussed in research in the last 50 years. They include increases in desira-bility, attractiveness and the attitude towards a product or brand, especially if conspic-uous goods are made scarce (cp Worchel, Lee & Adewole, 1975; Lynn, 1989; Gierl & Huettl, 2010). Implications on value change remained meagre, although, changes in consumers’ valuations translate into an increased willingness to pay (WTP) and thus increases in revenues and profits. Whether scarcity messages translate into commercial success is researched in the following.
In part II, the state of research on scarcity messages is reviewed. This section pro-vides propositions for examination in part III and IV as well as for future research. WTP for scarce goods in comparison to non-scarce goods is researched in part III. In-sights from consumer behaviour about scarcity messages since the postulation of com-modity theory are inquired under a commercial framing in part IV. Results show that Limited-Editions can increase WTP for all goods except pure commodities. Especially for conspicuous goods, additional WTP can be raised for individual serial numbers and further restrictions of unit count (III). Consumer behaviour for conspicuous goods re-mains as predicted by former studies even under a framing, that increases monetary sacrifice (IV). However, some results question the current definition of status.