The Marketeer’s Guide to Limited Editions of Mass-Produced Products
Limited Editions are used to boost sales of mass-produced products in their mid or end-of-life phase.
The technique is designed to convince prospective purchasers that they will buy something with the added value of being of limited production. If possible a premium is charged.
The product changes themselves are usually trivial as the whole point of the exercise is as a focus to a new marketing campaign in order to refresh and re-invigorate sales and sales people.
The first step is to pick the target model and consider what changes can be made to justify the “limited edition” label. Usually the target is in the bulk sales range rather than at the high end (with limited production numbers).
Specification changes should be restricted to as few as deemed possible. In a car a new paint color, trim design, alloy wheels and a unique decal set are often all that are required. The normal initial source of the new items is the existing parts bin, eg alloy wheels from another model. Sometimes excess parts stock from previous models can be used to reap a double benefit. The main principle is that the incremental cost of the change in specification must be as low as possible and certainly lower than any premium to be charged, taking into account normal margins as the value is positioned in the “limited” label rather than in the product changes.
Truly unique items should be avoided as far as possible because of the negative impact on production and parts management costs.
The next step is to decide on a name and theme. These are typically seasonal, or related to events such as anniversaries or sports (eg the Olympic Games).
The production number should be considered in conjunction with the parts availability (if restricted) and the likely sales. If an item is to be considered as “limited” at least twice as many should be produced as the likely sales. The great advantage of the limited edition is that consumers will carry on buying them well after the normal sell-by date because they believe that they are getting something special.
Finally a marketing campaign should be planned and implemented. These are normally low budget and designed to create traffic rather than sell the product per se.
