Branding and Scarce Commodities

In today's world, time and money are often the scarcest commodities. People try to save time or money or both. Many people do not have enough of either. Others earn and have a lot of money but find time to be what they most lack in their lives. While others may have all of the time in the world but little money. How does this relate to brands and marketing? One must realize that people behave differently depending on what commodity is scarce in their lives.

I have written before about the four generic customer segments - convenience-driven consumers, price-driven consumers, brand loyal consumers and category enthusiasts. Often people are loyal to brands because they know their quality level and can count on them. Always choosing the same brand saves lots of time and effort. So, in a way, this is an approach that values time. Convenience-driven consumers shop for items that they need wherever they can find them regardless of price. While price-driven consumers will typically hunt for the lowest prices and will go out of their way to pay less. Category enthusiasts are less sensitive to time or money because they highly value the category itself and enjoy the time they devote to shopping for new products and brands in the category. However, depending on what is scarce in their lives, category enthusiasts can display some of the behaviors of convenience-driven, and especially price-driven consumers too. 

When you create your brand and establish its pricing and distribution strategies, you should be cognizant of what is scarce in its customer's lives.