JohnScarcity – the quality or state of being scarce
Scarce – deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand : not plentiful or abundant (Merriam-Webster)
In my opinion, scarcity is such a broad and odd thing. In economics, scarcity is a definition that refers to goods/resources/services that are finite such as water and forests. For humans, it is a definition, but it also a psychological affect. The unavailability effect is what intrigues me the most because I can see it happening in real-time with myself. For instance, Black Friday deals.
I am an avid Michigan whitetail hunger. Starting Thanksgiving weekend, I was scouring the internet for the best deals for hunting products; products that did not need, only wanted. The fact that I can only get these items for this amount in this scarce amount of time drove me insane. Seeing myself in this position is a revelation why marketing scarcity tactics are so successful.
To extend on marketing tactics, I just watched a Netflix docuseries called “Broken” that had an episode about the makeup industry. It went over how big makeup companies use social media influencers to market their new products. By using words such as “LIMITED TIME ONLY” and “ALMOST OUT”, it creates this psychological affect in consumers to have a need to buy those products. Because of the high demand, this gives counterfeiters incentive to make their own products and sell them for a huge profit. The high demand of real products and high (and cheap cost) supply of fake products creates a scenario where consumers will end up purchasing the fake products. This is an unfortunate issue with scarcity.
On the opposite end of the scarcity spectrum, let’s talk about time. Time is the most scarce thing in the world for me. Not being able to get any of it back and not knowing when your time is up can be a real mental drag. However, knowing that, I’ve been using that very limitation as motivation with prioritization and completing tasks. Coming the realization that I only have so much time, focusing on what I deem as priorities has been helping me with my mental health and also improving my career.
In conclusion, scarcity can have good or bad outcomes – depending on where you are at. If you can, use it to your benefit.