Marketers use the concept of scarcity to create demand for their products by leveraging the psychological principle that people tend to place a higher value on items that are perceived as rare or limited in availability. This makes consumers more likely to purchase a product, even at a higher price, as they may feel a sense of urgency and exclusivity. 

Unleash the power of scarcity and FOMO in your DTC marketing plans to skyrocket tasting room, club, and e-commerce sales. Here are 6 tactics to get you started. 

Scarcity Marketing Tactics

Limited time offers:

Create a sense of urgency by offering a promotion like 2-for-1 or a discount for a short period of time to prompt tasting room and e-commerce visitors to act quickly. Not all wineries discount, especially highly allocated wines, but a short-time offer promoted with email, social media and by tasting room staff will cause consumers to act. 

Limited quantities:

This tactic gets to the heart of scarcity by promoting a wine that’s scarce! By promoting a wine in limited quantities or is a limited edition, you’re creating a sense of FOMO that will cause some consumers to buy rather than miss out. And isn’t FOMO what this concept is all about? 

Exclusive access:

Wine clubs and tasting rooms, by design, are all about exclusive access to wines and experiences made for members and visitors only. But the exclusive access concept can be extended to e-commerce consumers by making wines or offers available only to email and SMS subscribers. Wines or offers available only to subscribers will grow email and SMS lists, drive sales and improve other metrics like opens and clicks.

Waitlists or pre-orders:

A classic sneaker market tactic. By encouraging your consumers and fans to join a waitlist or pre-order an upcoming release, you will create anticipation and demand even before the wine is officially launched. This tactic works best for club and e-commerce. 

Flash sales:

This tactic has grown extremely popular online in many categories, wine included Flash sale events happen for a very short period of time and can involve significant discounts or special wines, creating a sense of urgency and excitement. Flash sales are excellent ways to activate your email and SMS list. 

Social proof:

Create a section of your website homepage and newsletter that showcases user-generated-content i.e. consumer reviews, testimonials or experience anecdotes, or links to social media posts will emphasize how highly sought-after and potentially scarce your wine is.

By using these tactics combined with digital marketing channels and campaigns, DTC marketing managers can effectively leverage the concept of scarcity to create demand for their wine, clubs and tasting room, resulting in increased sales across the board.