Limited edition/run rant

Well there has been something on my back lately and its been ticking me off more and more.

Why on earth do companies release a limited run of amazing products? Very often, some company will release the perfect product or an amazing product in titanium or some upgrade that makes it better. I get all excited and go to order and find out the the run was limited to 500 or 1000 or whatever and they are all sold out. This applies to knives and flashlights and everything in between. (im lookin at you Nike and Spyderco)

These products often have a lot of potential customers, like me, who want to give them money for what they offer but they decided to make it "limited".

So, is their a reason im missing why companies do this? please help me understand

promo tool.
marketing hype.
collector item.
making it limited edition makes it "worth" more. owner feels exclusive. have something others dont and cant have.
and many times.. they do sell it below or at cost because of the promotional values. good name and press for the company.

but.. i also wish that someone like 47s would still offer the neutral tint versions of their lights as normal option.

I agree ...... that's just ..... NonSenCe

Bottom line is they do it for the money.

You Snooze -- You Lose ! :sleepy:


But they do it cuz' of logic like this:



-- Neat Product (always available) --

"Hey, that's a Neat Product ! I'll hafta' buy one. Someday.



-- Neat Product (limited edition) --

"Hey, that's a Neat Product ! I'll hafta' buy one. RIGHT NOW ! ! !



Notice the difference ? ? ?


_

The other more practical question is the cost to them.

An "unlimited" run is potentially far more costly, if they end up sitting on a lot of unsold inventory and a line of idle machines tooled up to produce more. With a limited run, they tool up and then tool down, and there is a very fixed cost. Much easier to convince management when you can say "once we've sold all this product, we'll have this much profit."

Generally speaking, the limited edition items aren't products that would sell incredibly well (relative to the standard line). Once you've sold out your collector and "special" market, you wouldn't sell much more. In that case, it makes sense to figure out how many you're sure to sell, and only make about that many. Unsold inventory is expensive!

Allows the progression of technology to continually stimulate new buyers-updates. Open end runs unless the demand remains constant, is a tough game to follow. Some other manufacturer will up the game so change is necessary. Consumers keep looking for the "latest and greatest" too.