Snob effect
Topic: Consumer Behaviour, Demand and Elasticity · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The snob effect is the tendency of some consumers to buy less of a good as it becomes common. They value it for being exclusive. Harvey Leibenstein described it in 1950. It is the opposite of the bandwagon effect. Once "everyone" has the good, it loses its appeal for these buyers.
Example
A buyer who liked a certain brand of watch because few people owned it stops buying it once it is widely sold. The buyer switches to a rarer brand instead.
Don't confuse with
- Bandwagon effect: demand rises because many others already buy the good. Under the snob effect, demand falls for the same reason.
- Veblen good: demand rises because the price is high. The snob effect responds to how many people own the good, not to its price.
Related concepts
- Law of demand
- Substitution effect
- Income effect
- Normal good
- Inferior good
- Giffen good
- Veblen good
- Conspicuous consumption
- Bandwagon effect
- Demonstration effect