Ritual Commerce and Sacred Consumption Premium purchases work differently. The psychology shifts when you're selling above $1,000. Here's what actually happens when you add complexity to the customer journey. Beyond Functional Utility Russell Belk figured this out in 1989. His work on sacred consumption showed that certain purchases transcend function. Owen Bolwell • Conversion
Playing Hard to Get: How The Effort Justification Effect Works The counterintuitive truth about luxury brands: adding friction to the customer journey often increases the perceived value of the brand and product. When Hermès makes you wait years for a Birkin bag, they're engineering desire. When Gucci makes you wait behind the red rope outside their store, they’ Owen Bolwell • Conversion
Scarcity: Status Signalling in Luxury Markets Robert Cialdini's research on scarcity flips completely when you move from low-ticket ecommerce into luxury markets. Here, scarcity maintains exclusivity. It lets customers signal their status. The Psychology Reversal For cheap products, we use scarcity to speed up decisions and beat analysis paralysis. "Act now before it& Owen Bolwell • Conversion
