Am I a consumer, or am I being consumed by a brand?

Have you ever stood in line for an item to only find within minutes that the item is sold out? 

Hoping to get the item that you have been seeing online for weeks, maybe months, to find once you have the opportunity to finally purchase it, you cannot get what you wanted. This seems to be what is happening lately with items, such as the release of the PS5, or some makeup collections like Colourpop’s Hocus Pocus collection or Kylie Jenner’s holiday collection. 

Supply and demand is “the relationship between the quantity of a commodity that producers wish to sell at various prices and the quantity that consumers wish to buy”. The price of the commodity is determined by the interaction of supply and demand in the market. But do sellers always get this number right?

Lately it seems that there has not been as much product produced as there is people who would like to purchase the product, and this has become a problem for consumers. When it comes to items like this there are no caps for how many one person can purchase, this allows for consumers to resell these items at a higher price. This also makes consumers disappointed in the company for not creating enough of the product to be sold, especially around the holidays. 

When it comes to product launches like these, it not only effects the marketplace but also the psychology of the consumer wishing to buy these products. It’s creating a long-term impression on how people will interact with the product in the future. That’s why when a new launch occurs, the consumer will wait in line again to try to get the product because the brand has created an impression on the consumer, if they couldn’t get it last time they can get it next time. 

It’s great for a brand, but not the consumer… 

Supply and demand | Definition, example, & graph. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/supply-and-demand