Artificial scarcity doesn’t build demand

For decades, luxury has relied on scarcity as one of its defining principles. Whether genuine or manufactured, limited runs, waitlists and queues outside boutiques became signals of desirability.

But that thinking may be starting to shift.

Chanel's Bruno Pavlovsky recently said, "It's never a very great sign when there are queues at boutiques. The next phase after queues is always no queues."

New research from The Business of Fashion and McKinsey suggests he's right. Across more than 2,000 luxury consumers in the US and China, scarcity ranked well behind immediacy, uniqueness and quality as reasons for buying at full price. Only around a quarter to a third of respondents cited scarcity as a deciding factor, while challenger brands were more likely than legacy houses to be described as exclusive.

What's interesting is how that plays out in practice.

Chanel's recent momentum has been driven by Matthieu Blazy's creative direction, reinforcing the brand's codes rather than relying on manufactured hype.

The Row has become one of the most desirable brands in fashion without drops or spectacle, with one customer describing it as "low-key showing off".

And Urban Jürgensen's CEO dismissed artificial scarcity altogether, saying, "Urban Jürgensens are slow to get because they're slow to make."

That feels like a much more compelling definition of exclusivity.

The brands creating the most desire today aren't simply making products harder to access. They're creating something genuinely worth waiting for through craftsmanship, consistency and a clear point of view.

Scarcity may still exist, but increasingly it's becoming the outcome of creating exceptional value, rather than the strategy itself.