Resumo

Consumers are influenced by how a problem is structured and respond accordingly. This process, widely used in advertising to persuade consumers in their decision making, is known as the framing effect (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979). Using the framing effect, one of the ways used to boost sales is to appeal to the scarcity condition. Scarcity, seen as an isolated factor, does not influence consumer preference (Castro et al., 2013). It is the expectation of a future shortage of a certain product that creates a stimulus for the consumer (Mukherjee and Lee, 2016).

In view of the widespread use of scarcity appeal by marketers and the complexity of consumers’ responses and reactions to this practice, the purpose of this article is to identify the main studies on scarcity appeal in the 21st century, building a clear vision that to helps illustrate the main mechanisms used and consumers’ responses to the appeal. To this end, we conducted a systematic literature review of articles identified in two reputable databases, Web of Science and Scopus, using the key term “scarcity appeal”.

Scarcity can be divided into two types: real, when resources are actually constrained or manipulated (when, as a result of manipulation, the idea of scarce is transmitted) (Schins, 2014). The perception that consumers formulate about the causes and possible occurrences of scarcity is what stimulates individuals to make choices in favor of scarce goods (Mukherjee and Lee, 2016). When scarcity is communicated with an appeal, through messages such as, “only while supplies last” or “limited edition”, it produces a change in consumer expectations about the future availability of an item (Oruc 2015)

An important contribution we achieved was the identification of few studies analyzing the implication of price management as an effect (or consequence) of scarcity appeal and the total absence of theories that can explain the reactions of consumers in these conditions. Another relevant contribution is individual psychological factors tend to reduce the effect of scarcity appeal on consumption processes. Low levels of need of cognitive closure and preponderantly preventive regulatory orientations reduce the initial heuristic effect.

Most of the articles in this sample focused on studies of tangible products. More nuances may emerge with a shift to studies that focus on services. Finally, some methodological issues need to be addressed by future research. These include analyzing the outcome of scarcity appeal on behavioral variables and conducting experimental studies in real purchasing environments with the participation of consumers as a way to enhance the external validity of the causal studies that have been conducted

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