Do you know how Uber got started?
In 2011, Uber introduced luxury black car transportation as its first product. It was 1.5 times the cost of a taxi.
Uber identified a sizable niche of people who would pay higher prices for a more exclusive way to travel. So it developed a smartphone app that made ordering a black car a piece of cake.
It was a highly visible, highly differentiated, high-margin business. Uber didn't try to be a better taxi, it decided not to be a taxi.
Who is the richest person in the world?
Warren Buffett? Elon Musk? No, it's Bernard Arnault.
As of May of 2023, according to Forbes, Arnault surpassed Elon Musk with a net worth of $215 Billion. Arnault owns luxury brands like Christian Dior, Tiffany & Co and Louis Vuitton.
These are companies with highly differentiated, high margin businesses. They are masters at leveraging scarcity and exclusivity into desirability, which drives up margins and profits.
Have you purchased a Ferrari lately?
Want a Ferrari? Sorry, you can’t just walk into a dealership and buy one. It starts with a waitlist, and you hope it's the "real" waitlist.
What is the "real" Ferrari waitlist? It's the list where you may get a call. If you're on the other list, you won't.
For example, reliable rumor has it that when you walk into a Ferrari dealership if you don't look at least 40 and don't look good on Google, you won't get on the real waitlist.
Does Ferrari's obsession with scarcity, exclusivity, and differentiation pay off? The company pre-sells every car it makes, those cars typically go up in value, and Ferrari often earns as much selling one car as Ford does selling 900.
(Learn more about how Ferrari leverages differentiation, exclusivity, and scarcity in my weekly blog.)
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