She said she was particularly vulnerable to this type of entertainment during a pandemic where customers were bored at home. “The interesting question is a year or two later, is this a permanent change in the business model, or is it going back to a more seasonal sales model?” She said.
It will also change consumer behavior, said Abigail Sasman, a behavioral scientist and marketing professor at the University of Chicago Booth Business School. “It changes the decision that you can postpone-maybe you buy something later or not at all-to something you have to buy now,” she said.
For small businesses, selling a certain amount of inventory at a particular time means less overhead.
Prior to the pandemic, Brooklyn-based Miriam Weiskind quit her job as an art director in pursuit of her passion for making pizza. Her dream, like many of her chefs, is to open a restaurant, but its economics are daunting. Meanwhile, she started the Za report. Using the drop model, she sells pies twice a week at breweries and street fairs.
She announced where she was on Instagram a few days ago, and usually a line is waiting for her when she opens. She sells 70 to 120 pies at a time, and on some days she sells out within an hour.
She likes the low overhead and believes that this sales model will allow her to sell pies at higher prices (range between $ 18 and $ 24). “It keeps demand high and supply low,” she said. “Each pie is special because I don’t make that many pies, so I can charge more.”
Bearwalker in Daphne, Alabama makes pop culture-themed skateboards like Pokemon and Marvel Comics. He releases one collection every six weeks. There are only 250 boards in each collection.