It isn’t uncommon for companies to release exclusive products only sold at one or two stores. Musicians have done it with special editions of their albums, films have done it by releasing extended cuts or behind the scenes extras and companies with large fan followings often release exclusive merchandise in partnerships with certain stores. While this may be all well and dandy if we all went to stores in person, the availability suddenly becomes even more limited when you introduce online shopping.
While online shopping does potentially broaden the audience that can purchase special edition items from exclusive product partnerships, it also opens up the opportunity for scalpers to buy a significant portion of the stock and resell it to desperate fans for a much higher and unfair price.
A recent example of this happening would be when Nintendo partnered with Target stores to re-release special Amiibo cards for the “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” game. Their announcement got a huge amount of attention, and when the cards were finally available online and in stores, they sold out in less than an hour. While the cards were originally selling for about $7 a pack, scalpers had them on resale websites within the hour for over $100.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, either. It happens with concert tickets, special album releases and many other limited edition items that are the product of exclusive product partnerships. Because scalpers often use bots that buy up stock quickly, actual fans who need to shop online because they can’t go to the store lose out on opportunities to buy and either have to wait for a restock or buy from scalpers at a much higher price. Additionally, sometimes, stores underestimate the amount of stock they need to release and even more fans lose out when items sell out in minutes.
When this happens, it not only causes fans to feel upset, but also tarnishes the name of both the brand and the store they’re partnering with. If you look in the comments of Target’s social media posts, you can still find fans complaining about their release of the Amiibo cards. While both companies that are partnered ultimately benefit, when things like this happen, consumers lose trust in those companies.
While exclusive product partnerships may be financial wins for the companies, in a world where scalpers run rampant online, both companies lose the trust of their consumers and possible future purchases. Exclusive product partnerships no longer work in a day and age where stock sells out in seconds or even minutes.
