The Power of Scarcity: Leveraging Urgency and Demand to Influence Customer Decisions

CHAPTER 8

“Only While Supplies Last!”

HOW MUCH WOULD YOU pay for a good night’s sleep? For some people, the answer is $175,000. In 2013, British mattress manufacturer Savoir Beds launched a limited-edition “Royal Bed” with a hefty price tag of $175,000.¹ Each mattress required more than 700 hours of labor to produce. At that price, you might be wondering if the mattress was made of gold. While the mattress might not have been filled with gold flakes, it did contain bundles of curled Latin American horsetail hair (used to absorb moisture, regulate body temperature, and provide natural spring), masses of pure Mongolian cashmere, and plenty of specially woven silk (if strung, the silk strand would be nearly 1,600 miles long).² To craft such a mattress, ...