On the one hand, it’s kind of fun to try to land one of these rarities. They wouldn’t be special if everybody could get them. On the other hand, do you get frustrated if your sources sell out before you get there, or sell out to “special customers” and never even put the product on the shelf? I know those of you who live where these items aren’t even distributed are frustrated by your lack of access to them.
And, for the retailers among us, have you experienced the practice of distributor sales representatives using access to such in-demand rarities to leverage other sales? How do you feel about that? Do you consider it business-as-usual and part of the dance, or do you feel like you and your customer are not getting a fair shake?
For all of us, how limited is too limited?
By limited-edition bottling, I mean both one-offs and annual releases, and although commemoratives could technically be included, I’m more interested in special bottlings of unique whiskeys than I am in special bottlings of the producer’s standard product, so I’m not really talking about the Jack Daniel’s or Maker’s Mark commemoratives here.
For demand to greatly exceed supply is the goal with this type of product, but when you succeed, how do you fairly allocate the limited stock? You want the buzz that comes with something that is highly desirable and hard-to-find, but you don’t want to alienate customers or consumers, who might be frustrated in their efforts to obtain the limited edition du jour.
Finally, do you think that the producers have correctly estimated the market for this type of product, possibly overestimated it, or possibly underestimated it?
Come on, write my story for me.
